Imagine you\u2019re sitting at a coffee shop. Your iPhone is sitting on the table, locked. You haven\u2019t touched it, you haven\u2019t scanned your FaceID, and you certainly haven\u2019t authorized a payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suddenly, a notification pops up: Transaction Approved: $10,000.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It sounds like a magic trick, but as Derek Muller from Veritasium<\/em> recently demonstrated with tech reviewer MKBHD, it\u2019s a very real cyber-security vulnerability. In a stunning demo, they managed to “steal” five figures from a locked phone without ever entering a passcode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is the breakdown of how this “Man-in-the-Middle” attack works and why your specific choice of credit card might be putting you at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The core of the hack lies in a feature we all love for its convenience: Express Transit Mode<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Introduced to make commuting faster, this feature allows you to tap your phone at a subway turnstile or bus reader without needing to wake or unlock your device [06:25<\/a>]. To make this work, the phone is programmed to “trust” any reader that identifies itself as a transit terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By using a specialized device (a ProxMark), the hackers broadcast a code that tricks the iPhone into thinking it\u2019s at a subway gate. The phone then automatically opens its “Transit Slot” and prepares to pay\u2014no biometric verification required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To pull off a $10,000 theft, the hackers used a Python script to tell three specific “lies” to the devices involved:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most frustrating part of this discovery? It only works on a specific combination: An iPhone paired with a Visa card.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When Veritasium reached out to Apple<\/strong> and Visa<\/strong>, the response was essentially: “It\u2019s a known issue, but it’s very unlikely to happen at scale”<\/em> [22:13<\/a>]. Visa pointed out that they have a “Zero Liability Policy,” meaning if you were<\/em> hacked, you’d eventually get your money back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, as Derek rightly points out, “eventually” doesn’t help when you can’t pay your rent because $10,000 is missing from your account while you wait for a bank dispute to settle [25:04<\/a>].<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to close this loophole today, you have two main options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Security is always a trade-off with convenience. Express Transit is a brilliant feature, but as this hack proves, “frictionless” payments sometimes mean there’s no friction to stop a thief, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you think? Is the convenience of “Tap and Go” worth the security risk? Let us know in the comments!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Watch the full deep dive over at Veritasium<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe “Express Transit” Vulnerability<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Three Lies of the Hack<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Why Only Certain Users Are at Risk<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Is This Happening in the Real World?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to Protect Yourself<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\n