How is tap-to-pay more secure than the chip on the card?

Question

I understand how using something like Apple Pay or whatever the android equivalent is is secure, using things like one-time-codes, but how is having a card that can do tap-to-pay secure? Couldn’t someone just copy the wireless signal it gives off and then use that in place of my card?

In: 5

Answer 1

I’m not entirely sure how the technology is implemented in practice, but an easy way I can see it implemented is with encryption. Instead of sending a password, the password is stored on the card and never output. Instead, it receives a message, encrypts it with the stored password, outputs the encrypted message, and the receiver verifies that the encrypted message was legitimately encrypted. Transaction approved.

Edit: seems like NFC authorization flow is generally as I’ve outlined.