Infrared cameras are moving from the domain of house inspectors and border guards into the hands of the general public. For $350 you can now buy one at the Apple Store. Like most technologies, we haven't fully considered the implications. But the bad guys have. They're already snapping pictures of pin pads to steal your PIN number.
As explained by Mark Rober in an excellent video, the FLIR infrared (IR) camera attachment for the iPhone is good. So good that it can pick up which buttons you just pushed on a plastic or rubber pin pad. He illustrates by waving his iPhone over the PIN reader at a supermarket checkout. The telltale heat signature on the keys reveals the previous customer's "secret" PIN number.
Losing your PIN number to a thief can be much worse than having your password hacked online. Somebody who breaks into your victoriasecret.com account can learn about your taste in undies and perhaps steal your credit card information. A thug who just grabbed your pin number might follow you to the parking lot to snatch your purse or wallet.
An even worse scenario: a predator might dash up behind your latchkey child and read the combination of your digital door lock. According to a research paper, even after a whole minute had passed, there was a 50% success rate in reading the numbers.
For the rest of the article on the Psychology Today site, click here.
Image courtesy yellowcloud via Flickr, used on Creative Commons License