Never Use Copy Paste for Your Credit Card Number and Internet Explorer

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I used to think taxi cabs or restaurants that use old fashion carbon paper receipts for credit card transactions were the biggest source of credit card debt and fraud.

I was told thieves would go to the dumpster and rummage through the garbage looking for these receipts. The impression on the carbon paper would give the credit card number, and expiration date. This is one reason why they started using the 3 digit CVS code on the back of credit cards.

However, recently my friend had a virus that sent out a SPAM email to everyone on his Gmail address book!

That got me thinking… unlike Yahoo or Hotmail, Gmail uses Javascript to store your address book, and the virus exploited that vulnerability.

Sure, you think sending out a harmless email for a penny stock, Viagra, or MLM offer is no big deal. People will recognize it and simply delete it.

Then I thought about other Javascript and ASP programming exploits?

I know a lot of people keep a special file on their computer with all their passwords or credit card info.

These same people use the copy and paste command (CTRL-C and CTRL-V) to enter repetitive strings of text, including credit cards.

Sounds harmless?

The just for fun, type in notepad or wordpad some garbage text, highlight it, then copy it (using right click… copy, simply the keyboard shortcut of CTRL-C).

Or just select the sample text below, and copy it to your clipboard:

My Credit Card number is 1234567890123

Then Go to:
http://www.friendlycanadian.com/applications/clipboard.htm

This only works in older versions of IE. Newer versions if IE will warn you (hopefully). Firefox and Safari need not to worry!

Shocking?

Here’s how to protect your data in Windows Clipboard and Internet Explorer?

  • Open Internet Explorer.
  • Go to the menu, Tools > Internet Options > Security.
  • Under the Security tab, click the Custom Level button.
  • In the Security Settings window, find the message that is “Allow Paste Operations via Script“. Under this message, select Disable and then click OK.
  • In the Security Settings window, find the message that is “Programmatic clipboard access“. Under this message, select Disable and then click OK.

I hope the above message will shed some light on credit card fraud!

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January 21 2009 12:10 am | Identity Theft

9 Responses to “Never Use Copy Paste for Your Credit Card Number and Internet Explorer”

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  5. Shen-Li on 09 Feb 2009 at 5:05 pm #

    Great article! I never thought about this, but thankfully have never done these. Another good reason to remember credit card numbers by heart and using Firefox, huh?

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