ITPEC IP October 2019 Question 92
Which of the following is an appropriate description in comparison of how to safeguard IC cards and magnetic cards against forgery?
Explanation
An IC card is more robust, because its chip can store and encrypt information — the chip protects its data, while a magnetic stripe does not.
A magnetic card records its data unprotected on a magnetic stripe: a card reader (skimmer) can read it and write the same data onto another card, so it is easy to clone. An IC card stores data inside a chip that performs encryption and authentication with the reader and resists attempts to read out its contents (tamper resistance), so copying it is much harder.
Answer (a)
Why not others:
- •(b) — an IC card records information in its chip, not as a two-dimensional code; a printed code would be easy to copy
- •(c) — the magnetic stripe is the weak point: it has no protection mechanism, which is why magnetic cards are more easily forged
- •(d) — a magnetic card records on a magnetic stripe, not a bar code, and it is the less robust of the two
Key rule: Tamper resistance and encryption on the chip are what make IC cards hard to forge; data recorded plainly on a stripe or printed code can be copied.
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