OK - while we're on the topic.  You state . . .that CC numbers have patterns
in them that drastically reduce the number of valid resultsets . . . why not
use brute force to just churn out a bunch of valid credit card numbers and
use them ????

If you munge (encrypt) the cc numbers with a key - displace the owner name
and the expiration date in various locations, why would that be any less
secure???

Educate me here . . .

Dave




----- Original Message -----
From: "Kwang Suh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "CF-Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 12:34 PM
Subject: Re: Storing Credit Cards


> I should point out that this is a very simple form of encryption (call it
> whatever you want, it's still encryption), and EASILY hackable.  How long
do
> you think it would take a computer to do brute-force key calculation on
such
> a simple key, especially considering that CC numbers have patterns in them
> that drastically reduce the number of valid resultsets?  Maybe a couple of
> seconds at most?
>
> To the original poster:
>
> PGP is VERY hard to crack.  Especially with a large key, such as 1024-bit.
> Certainly, the amount of time that it would take to crack the key is
greater
> than the usefulness of the information (e.g. by the time your hacker got
the
> CC number, the person who owned the CC would have died of old age).
>
> Look into GPG.  It's free, and you can use CFEXECUTE to run the GPG
> encrption/decryption executable (doing it this way prevents you from
> releasing your source code under the GPL, as you're just _using_ GPG, not
> modifying it :).
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dave Hannum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "CF-Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 10:04 AM
> Subject: Re: Storing Credit Cards
>
>
> > Just FYI - it's a fact.  Munging the credit card numbers is harder to
> crack
> > than encryption.
> > For example.  You have a key.  You add a documented value to the first
set
> > of four numbers and add another number to the second set of four
numbers.
> > (dummy cc number here)
> >
> > Visa  4563 2784 9001 2483
> >
> > Add Key 1 = 4321
> > Add Key 2 = 9876
> >
> > Store number as 8884 12660 9001 2483
> >
> > Without the keys, this number is impossible to crack.
> >
> > You store your key.  Then, when you want to process again, you subtract
> the
> > numbers you added in and you have a valid credit card number.   As long
as
> > that key is not web accessable, you're secure.  VERY secure.  And much
> > cheaper than PGP.
> >
> >
> > Dave
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Megan Cytron" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: "CF-Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 11:28 AM
> > Subject: RE: Storing Credit Cards
> >
> >
> > > I have also done this using CFX_PGP. In our case, we FTPed the
> > > order and PGP-encrypted CC info to a Unix server and they moved
> > > the file to a secure location behind a firewall and deleted it
> > > from the FTP folder. You could also do this via VPN.
> > >
> > > Another question: has anyone found any shared hosts that support
> > > CFX_PGP?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Megan
> > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >
> > > Alpha 60 Design Shop
> > > http://www.alpha60.com
> > > phone: 202-745-6393
> > > fax:   202-745-6394
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Alex Santantonio [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > > > Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 11:22 AM
> > > > To: CF-Talk
> > > > Subject: RE: Storing Credit Cards
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > If you must store credit card info, it might be a good
> > > > idea to follow some
> > > > of these steps in addition to the typical Secure
> > > > Certificate and so on.  You
> > > > should absolutely encrypt them using PGP or some other
> > > > type of encryption.
> > > > I have used CF_PGP on several clients and it works
> > > > quite well.  You could
> > > > probably use some sort of ASP PGP COM object with CF
> > > > instead of paying the
> > > > $400 for CF_PGP.  In addition to this, you can also
> > > > create an automated
> > > > process that will transfer the card numbers from the
> > > > live database to
> > > > another database that is not accessible through the
> > > > site in any way.  Then
> > > > write the good old xx*****xxxx to the live database
> > > > for future management.
> > > > Then you can transfer your billing software that you
> > > > write to actually
> > > > charge the cards on the schedule behind this secure
> > > > section so only people
> > > > within the office or from a certain IP address can
> > > > process cards.  This will
> > > > at least make it much more difficult to get at this
> > > > data, and if your
> > > > database is hacked or stolen from your live site, the
> > > > only cards that might
> > > > even be in there would be the ones that were not yet
> > > > transferred, and those
> > > > would be encrypted in PGP so it would take someone a
> > > > good deal of time to
> > > > get at it that way.  So in short.
> > > >
> > > > 1. Store credit cards PGP encrypted in the database
> > > > 2. Transfer on a schedule and store them in a separate
> > > > Database with the
> > > > info on the live database overwritten
> > > > 3. Move billing management behind a firewall or some
> > > > server that is no way
> > > > accessible to the outside.
> > > >
> > > > This should at least minimize your risk a bit.
> > > >
> > > > Alex Santantonio
> > > > Lead Developer
> > > > Macromedia Coldfusion 5 Certified Professional
> > > > Macromedia Certified Web Site Developer
> > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > > www.doceus.com
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Jeff Stone [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > > > Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 10:55 AM
> > > > To: CF-Talk
> > > > Subject: Storing Credit Cards
> > > >
> > > > I am hoping that someone in this group may be able to
> > > > help me.  The company
> > > > I work for is building a service-based ecommerce
> > > > website.  Because this site
> > > > sells website space to other customers, I need to
> > > > charge these customers
> > > > monthly for the services we are providing.  Therefore,
> > > > I believe I am going
> > > > to have to store the customer's credit card numbers in
> > > > order to charge their
> > > > cards every month for their continued use of our services.
> > > >
> > > > I have done quite a few product-based ecommerce sites
> > > > in the past and have
> > > > never had to face this issue.  In the past, I have
> > > > used Cybersource and
> > > > Cybercash passing them the user's credit card
> > > > information at the time of
> > > > purchase and then just storing the authorization code
> > > > that was returned in
> > > > my database.  Then, when the products were shipped, I
> > > > would pass the
> > > > authorization code back to Cybersource and they would
> > > > give me a billing code
> > > > that would confirm that a request for the card to be
> > > > charged had been
> > > > completed.  This was very secure because I never had
> > > > to store the credit
> > > > card numbers at all.  The only problem is that these
> > > > authorization codes are
> > > > only good for 7-10 days, so I cannot use this same
> > > > process for my current
> > > > customer.
> > > >
> > > > I know there are a lot of people out there currently
> > > > storing credit cards.
> > > > I know all of the ISPs must be doing it to be able to
> > > > constantly charge my
> > > > credit card each month.  Has anyone done this before,
> > > > and if so, how?  I
> > > > have spent the last couple of days looking for the best
> > > > encryption/decryption scheme, but at the sore lack of
> > > > information that I
> > > > have found, I thought I would turn to this group for
> > > > some advice (assuming
> > > > that someone out there must have the answer).  I would
> > > > also be interested in
> > > > knowing if anyone is aware of a third party clearing
> > > > house or payment
> > > > processor that can provide a very secure credit card
> > > > storage service.  As
> > > > you can tell, I am very hesitant to want to store
> > > > these credit card numbers
> > > > at all.
> > > >
> > > > Any help you all may be able to give would be much appreciated.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks again,
> > > >
> > > > Jeff Stone
> > > > Stone Grove Design
> > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> 
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