Tuesday 15 November 2011

HOLIDAY HOTEL SECURITY INFO'

Always take a small fridge magnet
on your holiday; Or business trip. it will come in handy at the end of it.

This is pretty good info. Never even thought
about key cards containing anything other
than an access code for the room!

HOTEL KEY CARDS

Ever wonder what is on your magnetic key
card?

Answer:
a. Customer's name
B. Customer's partial home address
c. Hotel room number
d. Check-in date and out dates
e. Customer's credit card number and expiration date!

When you turn them in to the front desk your
personal information is there for any employee
to access by simply scanning the card in the
hotel scanner. An employee can take a hand full
of cards home and using a scanning device, access
the information onto a laptop computer and go
shopping at your expense.

Simply put, hotels do not erase the information
on these cards until an employee reissues the
card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the
new guest's information is electronically 'over-
written' on the card and the previous guest's
information is erased in the overwriting process.

But until the card is rewritten for the next guest,
it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk
with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!

The bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them
home with you, or destroy them. NEVER leave them
behind in the room or room wastebasket, and
NEVER turn them into the front desk when you
check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card
(it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving
a lot of valuable personal information on it that could
be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device
card reader.

For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and
discover you still have the card key in your pocket,
do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it home
and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the
electronic information strip!

If you have a small magnet,
pass it across the magnetic
strip several times. Then try it in the door, it will not
work. It erases everything on the card.

Information courtesy of: Metropolitan Police Service.
Posted by at

11 comments:

  1. paul graver15 November 2011 at 05:37

    Thanks Roger but its to late I,ve already got your card number.

    ReplyDelete
  2. donald remfrey15 November 2011 at 05:40

    I know about this - but I wonder how many don't?
    --------
    Don

    ReplyDelete
  3. john kelly15 November 2011 at 07:05

    Thanks roger. Never realized how vulnerable we are.
    John

    ReplyDelete
  4. robin Ward15 November 2011 at 07:48

    Never even thought about that one and I bet there,s thousands more that has,nt


    Butch

    ReplyDelete
  5. john panton15 November 2011 at 10:39

    Thanks Roger i nver thought of that thanks again
    john(jp)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Keith Shaw16 November 2011 at 04:10

    Thanks for that Roger like a good many more I never thought about it before.

    Regards,
    Keith Shaw.

    ReplyDelete
  7. James Brooker16 November 2011 at 08:02

    Thanks for the info Roger
    Regards
    Jim Brooker

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stan Whitworth16 November 2011 at 17:50

    Roger, before boarding the aircraft make sure the pilot's using a GPS system of navigation and not the trusty old magnetic compass!! Actually I doubt if a fridge magnet would do the job properly as most of these are made from non 'domain aligned' ferrite crystals and are very weak. Ask the Metropolitan Police Service how it is they manage to retrieve data from a computer hard disk even after the data has been overwritten! And if they can do it a hacker can do it too! So if you want to get rid of the data properly then use a Super Strong 'Rare-Earth' Neodymium magnet. These are the strongest magnets known to mankind and Neodymium is what is used to propel the latest all electric cars to 80+ mph. You can purchase a pack of 10 of these on EBay for as little as £5 ...and as you only need one, sell the rest to your mates and make a profit at the same time eh? But be WARNED - Keep them away from your credit cards!!

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Neodymium-Disc-Magnets-10mm-dia-x-5mm-thick-Pk-10-/220877401330?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item336d51acf2#ht_1060wt_932

    Which ever magnet you do use, don't just swipe it using one domain of the magnet, turn the magnet upside down and swipe again using the opposite domain - just keep using alternate domains - use both north & south poles as this will desensitise the data more effectively.

    Information courtesy of: Stan

    ReplyDelete
  9. Stan Whitworth17 November 2011 at 07:45

    So did you read the safety warning on ebay?

    ►Never travel on an aircraft without first declaring the magnets ...and this applies to fridge magnets too !!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Phil Hayward20 November 2011 at 04:01

    First the "good" news...this kind of magnet is reputed to stimulate bone growth even when the bone is badly damaged. So take care!
    Next the bad news , no use putting it in your trouser pocket....it only works on bones.
    Keep smiling!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. donald remfrey20 November 2011 at 05:42

    He means your cash will not get bigger!!!!!
    -------
    Don

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)