The Future of Personal Security

PROTECT YOUR MONEY

Flexible display technology could lead to fraud-proof bank cards

THE THREAT:

The modern pickpocket lifts a victim´s financial vitals by reading through his mail, hacking into Web sites, sucking him into complex e-mail and phone scams, or even bribing bank employees. Whatever the means, though, the results are effective: More than 60,000 people in the U.S. fell prey to credit-card fraud in 2005, at a cost of more than $1.4 billion dollars.

THE SOLUTION:

One of the reasons it´s so hard to protect yourself against modern crooks is that you´re using the same digits every time you buy something, whether it´s online or at the local diner. But that could change soon, thanks to electronic credit-card displays that will generate new account numbers on command. This way, a crook who tries to use your digits from a previous purchase will be left with an expired card.

Your card will still have a static account number. But during each transaction, you´ll also press a small button in the card. This action will instruct a microchip to spit out a new string of additional electronic digits in the small, calculator-like flexible screen. These aren´t random: Each card will start with a base number-or â€seedâ€-and with every press of the button, an algorithm will calculate the new digits from the last one. Your bank or credit-card company will be able to verify the info because it knows both the seed and the algorithm. When it does match them up, this proves that you have the physical card in your possession and haven´t just â€phished†its vitals off the Web. To thwart old-fashioned pickpockets, you´ll probably enter a static PIN as well. That way, says Dennis Brestovansky of Aveso in Fridley, Minnesota, â€even if somebody steals the card, they can´t use it.â€

All of this can work on a standard-size card, says Andrew Ho, CEO of SiPix Imaging in Fremont, California, because flexible electronic screens are cheap enough to distribute en masse, strong enough to survive wear and tear in your wallet, and so efficient that one small battery will last for three years.

THE ETA:
Alan Finkelstein, president of Innovative Card Technologies in Los Angeles, says that banks will start running pilot tests with these dual-factor security cards later this year. â€If you´re one of the lucky ones,†he says, â€you might get one soon.†Eventually the technology could lead to added features-future bank cards might flash your remaining balance or allow you to scroll through your last few purchases. -Gregory Mone