On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the filing of the smart card patent by the Frenchman Roland Moreno, MoneyVox reveals 7 little secrets about this object which has become omnipresent in our lives, particularly for paying for our purchases.
The smart card is celebrating its 50th anniversary today! It was, in fact, on March 25, 1974 that a French inventor, Roland Moreno, filed with the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) the patent of a memory cardintegrating, in a plastic rectangle less than a millimeter thick, an integrated circuit capable of storing and processing information.
An invention that flourished, establishing itself as a authentication standard in telecommunications (the SIM card, after the old Telecard), in transport and of course in payments. Today, there are more than 80 million smart bank cards in circulation in France. And the number of payments made approached 10 billion during the first half of 2023 alone (1).
For the occasion, MoneyVox reveals 7 little secrets about the chip of your bank card.
What does my bank card chip hide?
A small metal rectangle flush with the plastic, covered with black lines forming strange patterns: this is what comes to mind when we think of the chip on a bank card. This visible part, however, is not the chip itself, but a contact area which allows the exchange of information with the payment terminal.
Under this area is installed a microprocessor, a sort of mini-computer capable of storing and processing all the information necessary to authenticate the payment. To guarantee the security of transactions, this processing is encoded using cryptographic keys also stored in the card’s memory.
The new generation cards also include a antenna, called NFCwhich is used for contactless payment and is connected to the microprocessor.
How to get a free bank card?
How is the card chip powered?
The chip on your card is an electronic device, which therefore requires electrical power to function.
How does it work? No, your card does not contain a mini-battery. It is powered, at the time of payment, by the terminal, via the contact zone already mentioned, which serves as a sort of electrical outlet.
Why do you sometimes have to rub your card chip?
Outline map. Here is what sometimes appears on the terminal when paying. In this case, we all had the same reflex: rub the card on a fabric, if possible wool or synthetic material. And it is often effective.
For what? It’s quite simple. Through friction and manipulation, the already mentioned contact area can wear out and fulfill its function less well: allowing communication between the card and the payment terminal. Rubbing it allows you to generate some static electricityand therefore facilitate the exchange of information.
Why does my card have a limited validity period?
From 3 years to 5 years: today is the validity period of a newly issued bank card. Why such a short duration? It is of course prevent malfunctions linked to wear: the card is an object used every day, sometimes mishandled, which can be damaged.
But there is a more fundamental reason for this regular renewal: the more recent a card is, the more secure it is. The memory and processing capacity of card chips, in fact, continues to progress, just like those embedded in computers and smartphones. They are therefore more robust against fraud.
This validity period, however, is tending to increase: today it can go up to 5 years in certain banks, mainly for cost reasons.
Should the chip of a bank card be destroyed when it expires?
It is not obligatory, but it is recommended. A card that has passed its validity date can no longer be used to pay. And even if it falls into the wrong hands, there is no chance that a criminal will be able to extract information from it that could allow them to steal money from you.
However, as this chip is no longer useful for paying, it is preferable to destroy it.
Why is my card chip getting smaller and smaller?
Disappearance of the embossed number, the magnetic strip, the area dedicated to the signature: the design of our bank cards has evolved over the last few years. The presence of the chip seems immutable. However, it too is constantly evolving.
Bank card: why the embossed numbers have (almost) disappeared
If you have kept old cards (which is not necessarily recommended), make the comparison: the contact zone, that is to say the visible part of the chip, is smaller and smaller. This change is obviously linked to the exponential increase in the memory capacities of electronic chips, which authorizes their miniaturization.
Want further proof? Here is the image of one of the first chip card prototypes, created by its inventor Roland Moreno around 1975.
Could the chip on my bank card disappear?
This is very unlikely. The chip, in fact, continues to prove itself in terms of security. All the specialists with whom we spoke confirmed that it is still considered inviolable, despite the increasingly sophisticated means available to fraudsters.
The visible part of the chip, that is to say the metal contact zone, could, on the other hand, one day lose its usefulness. The trend, in fact, is generalization of contactless payment. Today, this is limited to 50 euros per payment in the euro zone: beyond that, you must insert your card into the reader and enter your secret code. However, a new generation of payment terminals, called PIN online, is changing the situation. With them, there is no need to insert the card: if the code is required by the bank, simply type it into the terminal.
Bank card: you will soon be able to pay contactless for more than 50 euros
There is little chance, however, that the contact zone will disappear in the short or medium term. First, because some users remain resistant to contactless and choose to deactivate this function. Then because this online PIN payment requires communication with the bank. However, there are still cases where this query is impossible, particularly in areas not or poorly covered by telecom networks.
I refuse contactless on my bank card… These French people who fear fraud (wrong?)
(1) Source: Payment Means Security Observatory, Banque de France