Apple has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to the security of user data. She was the first to not hesitate to refuse cookies in the browser, banned surveillance in applications and developed a very convenient and tamper-proof method for inserting authorization codes from the keyboard, to which third-party software has no access until you click on it.
However, brilliant ideas for protecting users and their data come to mind not only to Apple engineers, but also to others. For example, Google Chrome developers .
Google has developed a bank card masking feature specifically for Google Chrome. Thanks to it, payment data will remain safe when paying for purchases in online stores. The browser will automatically create a virtual copy of the card with completely different data, which the user will use to enter on sites, without fear for the safety of savings on a real account.
Google Chrome update
Creating virtual cards can protect your real card from money theft
The method of creating virtual cards for online payments in Chrome is fully automated, and the browser itself offers to replace the real number of your “plastic” immediately before entering data. This happens the moment you click on the input field to activate the autocomplete mechanism . Chrome will ask if you want to use a virtual number to secure your payment.
In fact, Google has transferred the contactless payment method , which involves the creation of a virtual card to hide the real number, to online payments. The search giant does not need bank permission to virtualize cards. The company works directly with Visa, MasterCard and AmEx payment systems , which provide Google with the infrastructure to create a virtual version of plastic.
Initially, virtualization support will only be available to Visa and American Express cardholders. And with Google’s MasterCard, apparently, it has not yet been possible to agree. Therefore, the connection of the “plastic” of this payment system is planned later. When exactly this will happen, Google does not specify – most likely, because it itself does not have any information on this matter.
Chrome creates not only a fake card number itself , but also a new CVV code to confirm payments. True, there is still no need to enter it manually, because the browser uses a regular data auto-fill mechanism, and either biometrics or a code from SMS using 3D Secure technology is used to confirm the payment .
Virtual card for online payment
Chrome will create virtual copies of bank cards on its own when autofilling
Already now, users have the opportunity to add their cards on the pay.google.com website for subsequent autofill. It is them that Google Chrome will subsequently virtualize, replacing real numbers with newly created mask combinations. It will also be possible to track the connection between virtual cards and real ones, as well as view all the transactions made on these cards.
The Google Chrome update with the card virtualization feature has not yet been released. This will happen later this year. However, not all users will have access to it immediately. First, the update is waiting for desktop platforms and Android, and later iOS, but only for users from the United States. But the timing of the international release of the innovation is not called – apparently due to the fact that Google will have to agree with the regional branches of payment systems.
As you understand, the new function of Google Chrome may, in principle, not reach Russia. The fact is that Visa and MasterCard have stopped working on the Russian market, which means that the search giant will have no one and nothing to negotiate on card virtualization. Accordingly, local users will have to take care of protecting their cards on their own.
How to protect them? Well, actually there is nothing complicated about it. It is enough not to enter the data of your plastic cards anywhere. It is best to even start a virtual machine specifically for paying for purchases on the Internet , which is replenished by the amount of the payment immediately before it is made. So, even if your data is intercepted, attackers will not be able to steal a lot of money.
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