Barclays Pinsentry security device

ilikewatch

Just a quick query that's been puzzling me: I've always been told that your PIN isn't stored on your card itself, which is why when using an ATM or Chip & Pin terminal, the PIN you've entered is confirmed against the banks records. However I have just received a Barclays Pinsentry device, and have noticed that the device knows wether or not the PIN I've entered is correct, even though it is in no way able to communicate with the banks computers. Does this mean that my PIN is indeed stored on the card?

busiscoming2

I would assume the pinsentry device is programmed to only accept your PIN no.

D1zzy

busiscoming2 wrote: »

I would assume the pinsentry device is programmed to only accept your PIN no.

Don't believe that's true.
I don't have a barclays 1 but I do have Tescos and Natwest and they are interchangable so there has to be some way of associating card and pin independently of the device.

alyssa_liss

there interchangabel with other cards aswell

agsnu

The chip on chip & PIN cards stores a secret. This is a change from the magnetic stripe, which can be easily read (the chip is reasonably difficult to read - it would require destroying the card, for starters).

I'm not sure that it's your actual PIN - basically the chip is a small computer which does a bunch of cryptographic operations, so it could be some sort of derived value which can be used to authenticate you without actually being the PIN itself.

456789

Yeah the accompanying literature suggests something about matching a hash of your pin from the chip

Hazzanet

My understanding is that the chip does hold the PIN in encrypted form.

The Pinsentry device transmits what you type on the keypad in an encrypted form and the chip compares this to the PIN on the chip. If the PIN is correct, the chip gives a "PIN Correct" signal to the Pinsentry and if it's wrong, it gives a "PIN Incorrect" signal to the device and adds one to the incorrect PIN count.

catspaw

Just to confuse people: cards have the new chip on them...they also have the magnetic stripe...... now I used to make these.
The magnetic stripe is 2 layers of stripe...the first one tells you it is a bank card and the second layer have various numbers....your pin number is I thnik the 5-4-8 numbers on the strip.

And your number is on the chip

CLAPTON

catspaw wrote: »

Just to confuse people: cards have the new chip on them...they also have the magnetic stripe...... now I used to make these.
The magnetic stripe is 2 layers of stripe...the first one tells you it is a bank card and the second layer have various numbers....your pin number is I thnik the 5-4-8 numbers on the strip.

And your number is on the chip

the pin number is not present on the magnetic strip

hothothot_3

im not sure that the PIN is stored on the reader at all.

I had to go into branch and withdraw several thousand pounds, the cashier put my card into the same type of pinsentry device and asked me to enter my pin into it. It then came up with the 8 digit number and the teller then got the cash for me.

CLAPTON

hothothot wrote: »

im not sure that the PIN is stored on the reader at all.

I had to go into branch and withdraw several thousand pounds, the cashier put my card into the same type of pinsentry device and asked me to enter my pin into it. It then came up with the 8 digit number and the teller then got the cash for me.

the PIN is not held in the pinsentry.... as already said all the pinsentrys are the same ..you can use Nationwide's pin sentry with your barclays debit card, or use your nationwide debit card in a tesco one etc etc.

the PIN is held in encrypted form within the chip on the card.