Alston Grove

Have you ever looked at your credit/debit card or driver license and wondered what data lie within the magnetic stripe or barcode? Cards are convenient, and you probably swipe them at a lot of stores. Some stores now require that they swipe or scan your driver license for alcohol purchases. What data is on your card, and what is the retailer storing in their system?

To find out what’s on your cards, you can build a magstripe reader for under $50 and use open-source software to read them. Stripe Snoop is software that not only reads your card’s data, but also parses it, identifies the card issuer, and tells you what the content means. On the hardware section of the site, you’ll find instructions for using some inexpensive components to make your own card reader. Make Volume 1 from O’Reilly has an article by the same author with nice detailed illustrations and directions (the link is just an excerpt).

At work, I have access to a retailer commercial card swipe and barcode scanner, so I decided to take a peek at some of my cards. Read on to find out what I found.
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