How to protect NFC credit cards

Many card providers such as MasterCard or Visa equip their credit cards with an NFC chip in order to enable contactless payments. NFC credit cards facilitate the payment process because you only have to hold your card near a POS terminal. In case of small purchases below 25$ you’re not even asked to sign a receipt or enter your PIN. Meanwhile many people have a NFC credit card, but there are also several open questions like: How secure is NFC payment?

Recently media reports about the possibility to scan credit card information via an app are increasing. There are some apps available which allow users to read credit card information such as your credit card number and the expiration date of your card. In order to read this information app users simply have to hold their smartphone near your credit card. As the reach of NFC is very limited (1-4 cm), criminals have to come really close to scan your credit card successfully. However, at busy places people are often distracted. This way, people with criminal intent frequently remain unnoticed.

NFC protection covers inhibit data theft

The most effective solution is to prevent the transmission of payment data. Data transmission via NFC is impossible if the NFC chip in your credit card is shielded by specific kinds of metal. Therefore, we offer NFC protection covers with a shielding aluminum layer. If you keep your NFC credit card in such a NFC protection cover, criminals can’t read your credit card information. Even if somebody with criminal intent would touch your wallet directly, no data would be transmitted. The same effect could be achieved by wrapping your credit card in normal aluminum foil. However, a protection cover is optically much more appealing and practical.

Further information

• Wikipedia entry on MasterCard
• Wikipedia entry on Visa Inc.