On the back of your debit or credit card there is a three-or four-digit number called a ‘card verification value’ or CVV for short. It’s one of the last things you enter when making an online purchase. Its purpose is to act as an added security feature and prevent fraud during ‘card-not-present’ transactions.
However, it isn’t foolproof, because scammers can often discover a CVV, or even guess it, without too many problems. Indeed, researchers have shownthat Web bots making random guesses on legitimate websites can often come up with the appropriate CVV and expiration date to pair with a card number.
Refresh the CVV
Is there an answer to this? Well, the US-based PNC Bank believes there is and it is conducting a pilot test of cards with CVVs that refresh the number every 30 to 60 minutes.
The technology behind what could become an important leap forward for banks and other card issuers, such as neobanks, is something called Motion Code. It has been designed by Idemia and provides an extra layer of security for Card-Not-Present (CNP) transactions and against payment card number theft.
Idemia says: “This technology replaces the static 3-digit security code usually printed on the back of a card, by a mini-screen that displays a code, which is automatically refreshed according to an algorithm, typically every hour.
This solution thus renders copying of card information useless: by the time fraudsters try to use it online, the stolen number will have already changed several times. “
Searching for the ideal refresh rate
PNC began a 90-day trial of cards featuring IDEMIA’s Motion Code technology in November and, according to an Ars Technica report the test run should identify the optimum refresh rate. According to Idemia, “PNC Treasury Management expects to offer Dynamic CVV2 technology to current customers in early 2019, following completion of the pilot.”
Coverage of the story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette states, “Card issuers like PNC will be able to customize the refresh interval. The e-ink display is limited by a small lithium battery, so a 60-minute CVV refresh rate offers the card a four-year lifespan, and higher refresh rates will make that lifespan shorter.”
The only downside of using the Motion Code technology is that “motion cards are more expensive than regular chip cards to produce,” the Post-Gazettewrites, adding, “Prices vary, but according to one estimate, they cost about $15 compared with around $2 to $4 for a regular chip card.”