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Your Shredded Visa Card May Still Work at the Checkout

UMass Amherst researchers demonstrated expired Visa contactless cards can complete real purchases via relay attacks exploiting Visa Kernel 3's unsigned expiry date handling.

University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers presented at USENIX Security 2026 that expired Visa contactless cards can be revived for real purchases through an NFC man-in-the-middle attack on Visa's Kernel 3. The attack alters the expiry date the terminal sees (tag 5F24) while leaving the Track 2 Equivalent Data (tag 57) sent to the issuing bank unchanged, and the card's cryptographic signature does not cover the expiry date. Two Android phones emulating card and terminal relayed transactions within Visa's 500-millisecond limit. Mastercard, American Express, and Discover kernels blocked the attack, while Visa Kernel 3 did not; researchers also modified the Consumer Device Cardholder Verification Method flag at five US banks, and attackers can also exploit Terminal Verification Results zero-filling. Visa was notified in May 2025 and December 2025; no CVE has been assigned.

Security Affairs · 26d agoResearch

Zombie Card Attack Can Revive Expired Visa Cards for Contactless Payments

UMass Amherst researchers demonstrate Zombie Card, an NFC relay attack that revives expired Visa contactless cards for in-store purchases without breaking cryptography.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst presented the Zombie Card attack at USENIX Security 2026, showing that Visa's Kernel 3 does not cryptographically bind the Application Expiration Date (tag 5F24) the terminal reads with the Track 2 expiry seen by the issuer. By positioning an NFC man-in-the-middle relay, an attacker can rewrite the terminal-facing expiration date of an expired card and complete contactless purchases, provided the account remains open under the same PAN and the bank does not independently re-check expiry. Testing across five major US banks found three distinct policies; Visa Kernel 3 accepted the modified date, while Mastercard, American Express, and Discover kernels declined modified transactions. Findings were disclosed to Visa and affected banks in May 2025, no CVE has been assigned, and no exploitation has been reported.

The Hacker News · 27d agoResearch

Your Expired Visa Card Could Be ‘Zombified’ to Make Contactless Payments

Roundup: expired Visa cards can be revived for contactless payments via NFC relay; plus Apple spyware warnings and Ukraine cyberattacks on Russian e-commerce.

WIRED's weekly security roundup leads with research showing expired Visa contactless cards can be revived to make new payments through an NFC man-in-the-middle attack that alters the card's expiration date. The roundup also covers Apple sending an unprecedented volume of spyware warnings to users and Ukrainian cyber and drone attacks against a major Russian e-commerce company.

WIRED · Security · 25d agoResearch

Researchers find a loophole that lets expired credit cards make unauthorized payments

UMass Amherst researchers showed at USENIX Security 2026 that NFC relay attacks can rewrite unprotected expiration dates, letting expired Visa contactless cards keep making payments.

UMass Amherst researchers presented the Zombie Card attack at USENIX Security 2026, using two smartphones to relay and modify NFC payment data from expired Visa cards. The expiration date lies outside the card's digital signature coverage in Visa Kernel 3, and one major US bank accepted $1-$500 test purchases plus live $2.79 and $3.19 purchases with rewritten dates. Mastercard, American Express, and Discover rejected tampered dates; researchers notified Visa in May 2025 and no CVE or confirmed fix existed at publication.

Help Net Security · 28d agoResearch

Risky Bulletin: Expired cards can be used for new transactions

Researchers show expired Visa contactless cards can be revived via NFC man-in-the-middle relay to run fraudulent transactions; roundup also covers major breaches.

University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers built an NFC man-in-the-middle rig that updates a card's expiration date in transit and relays the modified payment to POS terminals, reviving expired contactless cards; Visa terminals and the backends of all five banks studied failed to catch the manipulation. The same roundup reports Iranian hackers shut down a small UK power plant for four days, Lazarus breached South Korea's Presidential Office as part of a campaign exceeding 100 victims, and French telecom SFR suffered a breach affecting over 2.1 million customers.

Risky Business News · 24d agoResearch1

Tajin Group: Guarantee Marketplace Vendor Involved in Phishing and Chinese Money Laundering Group

Recorded Future details Tajin Group, a Chinese-speaking vendor on Telegram guarantee marketplaces running phishing, carding, and money laundering operations targeting Chinese banks.

Insikt Group analyzed Tajin Group, a Chinese-speaking threat actor operating on Telegram-based guarantee marketplaces Dabai Guarantee and, since May 2026, Xinbi Guarantee. The group conducts phishing, payment card theft, and money laundering targeting mainland Chinese citizens and banks, testing stolen cards from twelve countries on platforms like CCAvenue and Geidea. Operators bought and sold at least 100 Telegram usernames and anonymous virtual numbers via Fragment Market to strengthen OPSEC, linking multiple usernames to single Telegram accounts. Recorded Future warns Tajin Group's TTPs are likely to be replicated by other vendors on Chinese-language guarantee marketplaces at global scale.

Recorded Future · 2d agoThreat actor

Leaks, data breaches, and ransom notes: The worst hacks of 2026 so far

TechCrunch's 2026 roundup covers SSA data exposure, Iranian water-utility attacks, Klue breach hitting ~200 firms, and Meta AI chatbot account hijacks.

TechCrunch's mid-year roundup highlights a whistleblower claim that DOGE uploaded a live Social Security database copy to an unsecured third-party server, which House Democrats called potentially the largest US breach in history. CISA reported Iranian hackers targeted over 100 US water providers over the summer, while Russian-linked attacks hit Polish, Swedish, and Norwegian energy and water infrastructure. Market research firm Klue was breached via a stale 2022 pilot credential, exposing cloud keys of ~200 customers including Jamf, HackerOne, and LastPass to extortion gang Icarus. Separately, tens of thousands of Instagram accounts were hijacked by abusing Meta's AI chatbot to trigger password resets to attacker-controlled emails.

TechCrunch · Security · 1d agoData breach in the wild

Getting a stranger’s phone kicked off the cellular network costs a few dollars

Researchers show attackers can remotely block strangers' phones and alarm gateways on US cellular networks by abusing lost/stolen IMEI reporting for $2.50-$4 per device.

Researchers from Michigan State University and three partner schools found six weaknesses in the lost/stolen device reporting ecosystem spanning devices, carrier systems, and cross-carrier block-list sharing. They demonstrated blocking unopened Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 phones and home alarm gateways on three major US carriers, with each block costing $2.50-$4 and taking roughly 20-80 seconds. The attacks exploit thin identity and ownership checks in prepaid accounts, IMEI leakage from vulnerable cellular chipsets used by two vendors with over 40% global market share, and pre-release IMEI databases purchasable for $600. Victims receive no notification, and restoring service requires proving device ownership to the carrier.

Help Net Security · 6d agoResearch

X Money rollout linked to password-reset attacks

X is investigating bulk unsolicited password-reset emails as its X Money payments service expands, with no confirmed breaches or account takeovers yet.

X users began reporting unexpected password-reset emails and codes on September 1, and product engineer Mridul Singhai said attackers appear to believe newly widespread X Money access makes accounts worth targeting. X says it has found no evidence of any breach or successful account takeover, and completing a reset still requires access to the account's email or phone number. X Money offers eligible US users interest-bearing accounts, a Visa debit card, and P2P payments, with Cross River Bank providing banking infrastructure. Malwarebytes warns the reset flood can serve as cover for phishing and urges reset protection, 2FA, and unique passwords.

Malwarebytes Labs · 12d agoPhishing & fraud in the wild

Indian man who fled US arrested on charges he helped scammers siphon $7.5 million from the elderly

US prosecutors charged Indian national Jay Goswami as a money mule who collected $7.5 million from nine elderly scam victims, now facing extradition from Canada.

US prosecutors charged 21-year-old Indian national Jay Sunilbharthi Goswami with wire fraud and money laundering for working as a money mule for India-based scammers. The scammers posed as law enforcement or government officials by phone and email, convincing at least nine elderly victims in New York and New Jersey to hand over $7,559,185 in cash, gold bars, and gift cards. Goswami collected the money and shipped it to India, allegedly earning about $90,000 while on a student visa at Fairleigh Dickinson University. After fleeing to Canada across the Peace Bridge, he was arrested at Toronto's airport and is awaiting extradition to the US.

The Record · 23d agoPolicy & legal in the wild