Zombie Card: An expired Visa credit card can be used for purchases


Did you know there is still a good reason to physically destroy your expired credit card? Scientific research found that the expiration date used by payment terminals on some contactless cards was not effectively protected against tampering.

University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers Raja Hasnain Anwar, Gerard DeCunha, and Muhammad Taqi Raza tested contactless cards across Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express, using multiple terminals and merchants, and cards from five major US banks.

They found that a payment terminal could be tricked into seeing a future expiry date. Basically, they were able to modify the expiration date sent to the terminal to a future date. This allowed them to revive expired Visa contactless credit cards for real in-store purchases. Hence the name “Zombie Card.”

Read more…
Source:  MalwareBytes Labs


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • ValleyRAT masquerading as adware

    August 31, 2026

    Attackers typically try to pass off malware as legitimate applications or as potentially unwanted programs that users deliberately search for and download, such as cheats or cracks. They often rely on ad and affiliate networks to deliver their creations to victims’ devices. This post examines a less conventional case: a well-known backdoor distributed under the ...

  • TerminalFix campaign deploys a reverse tunnel through multistage intrusion

    August 28, 2026

    Microsoft Threat Intelligence has observed a TerminalFix campaign, a variant of ClickFix, targeting organizations across multiple industries. The campaign uses compromised websites to display a fake Cloudflare CAPTCHA verification overlay that tricks users into copying and executing a malicious PowerShell command. While traditional ClickFix campaigns direct victims to the Windows Run dialog, TerminalFix campaigns apply ...

  • PaperCut NG/MF Critical Zero-Day Exploited in the Wild

    August 28, 2026

    On August 27, 2026, PaperCut Software published an urgent security advisory stating that it is investigating active exploitation of a vulnerability affecting PaperCut NG and PaperCut MF. PaperCut has confirmed customer incidents and is treating the issue as a security emergency. At the initial time of disclosure, the vulnerability had not been assigned a CVE identifier, and ...

  • Identity-as-a-Service: Uncovering Dark Web Marketplaces Trading Executive SSNs

    August 27, 2026

    Despite modern verification controls, identity theft remains one of the most pervasive threats to both individuals and enterprise organizations. U.S. Federal Trade Commission statistics show over 1 million identity theft reports annually, with related fraud and imposter scams accounting for billions in financial losses each year. While stolen credit cards enable rapid, short-term monetization, Social ...

  • An open letter for a global surge in cyber defense

    August 27, 2026

    We have a limited window to strengthen cyber defenses. In the coming months, AI-enabled cyber attacks will become far more widespread and sophisticated as models around the world become increasingly capable. The companies and public services our communities depend on—from hospitals to water treatment plants to the infrastructure that powers the internet—are at risk. Today’s AI advances ...

  • Millions of UK airport customer details accessed in major cyberattack

    August 27, 2026

    A cyber security breach targeting three major UK airports has led to the personal data of around 8.7 million customers being accessed, operator Manchester Airport Group (MAG) has confirmed. The group, which oversees Manchester Airport, London Stansted and East Midlands Airport, assured the public that “at no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised”, adding that no payment or banking details ...