Your credit, debit cards can be hacked in just 6 seconds! Check how to protect details or lose money

New Delhi: Since the onset of the pandemic, there has been a rise in the number of cyber frauds in India and globally, according to media reports. From time and again, cybersecurity companies have issued reports related to the misuse of our personal and financial data. 

In a recent study, NordVPN, a VPN service provider, has pointed out that an average debit or credit card can be cracked in only six seconds. The company published its results after a study on about 4 million debit and credit cards, currently being used in 140 countries. 

The report noted that the most common method to get access to a payment card is brute-forcing. The company explained that brute forcing can be conducted in just a few seconds. 

Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN, further explained the reason why a large number of payment cards appear on the dark web. "The only way such a huge number of payment cards could appear on the dark web is through brute-forcing,” he said. 

“That means that criminals basically try to guess the card number and CVV. The first 6-8 numbers are the card issuer’s ID numbers. That leaves hackers with 7-9 numbers to guess because the 16th digit is a checksum and is used only to determine whether any mistakes were made when entering the number. Using a computer, an attack like this can take only six seconds," says Briedis added.

How to secure your credit and debit card details? 

Cardholders can protect their debit and credit cards from hacking attempts in multiple ways. For starters, they should keep a tab of their monthly statements. Briedis said that cardholders should check for suspicious activity. He added that customers should reach out to the issuing bank quickly if they notice any fraud. Also Read: Aadhaar Card not linked to phone number? Here’s how to link mobile number on Aadhaar in simple steps

“Another recommendation is to have a separate bank account for different purposes and only keep small amounts of money in the one your payment cards are connected to. Some banks also offer temporary virtual cards you can use if you don’t feel safe while shopping online," he said. Also Read: Govt sends 270 notices to ecommerce players for breaching country-of-origin norm