Card reader

[El_Brio]

Anybody out there own a magnetic card stripe reader? I have them seen advertised and would like to see what info my university has on my student ID. What kind of encryption could I expect to find? I prob. could never afford one or figure out how to use one but I am curious as to what kind of technology is involved in decoding the info contained on such cards. Let me know guys.

[jeana]

I always thought that only an identifying number was coded into magnetic stripes. Then this number could be used to look up information in a central database located in the organization's computers.

In other words, I don't think you'd get any more information from your card than your student ID number, plus some other numbers to help disguise the ID number. However, this is just a guess based on the fact that the bar codes on many IDs can be easily translated back into your social security number, school ID number, etc.

If anybody has any better info, I'd be interested, too.



[This message has been edited by jeana (edited 04-16-2000).]

[grandslammer]

Of course they do make "smart" cards. Like for DSS television viewing. They have tiny little pointy-headed chips that, when viewed under microscope, look amazingly like Bill Gates' cat. Hmmmmm.....

Now, I don't know if this would apply to college ID's, most likely they do just reference a number in a data base.

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

M

[El_Brio]

well, we can put money into a vending machiene and put value on our card... so it's more than a number...it must be read/write rather than just read.

[grandslammer]

Well then, I can't help but wonder if they're smart cards.... I mean, they could just add "value" to the database from which they data, or they could have a "smart" chip on the card which holds the info. But think about it, if all the info was on the card alone, then you'd basically be screwed if you lost your ID.

Maybe a combination of the two. Why don't you ask someone in records or data or whatever they've decided to call themselves.

M