How does a clearly visible and cryptographically weak 3-digit code add any security to credit card transactions, unlike common best practices for passwords?
In: 3
The CVC2 code, or equivalent, is printed on the card but not encoded into the magnetic stripe, and ideally should never be stored by a payment processor.
Thus, it provides a very technically simple solution to verify that the card is present (or memorized by the person entering it) in an online transaction.
In addition, after a few incorrect entries, either the service accepting payment or the issuer would probably block the user and/or card.
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