Security Tip Of The Day Contactless Cards

1 minute read

Security Tip of the Day: Contactless & Cards

Two years ago, I would hear: “I don’t trust contactless, I don’t want someone able to just take my wallet and go nuts.”

We never hear that now, and why? Because contactless is fuckin awesome and if you don’t use it you are a mong. Plus it has a perfect cap for a round of beers.

In today’s special, we are talking contactless, Android/Apple Pay, and of course, security. Contactless is currently the most secure way to pay for goods at a till. Cash can be stolen, cards skimmed, contactless…can’t if you do it right.

Tip 1: Use Android or Apple pay.

Fingerprint auth. Virtual card numbers. Sex. When you pay with one of these apps, a one-time virtual credit card number is created for you, every transaction. This way, the retailer never knows what your real card number is – and can’t buy anything even with the full card details. Also, if you lose your wallet, your card can be used. If you lose your phone, your card (should be) protected by your fingerprint/PIN. Gets me hard thinking of it.

Tip 2: Check your receipts (London)

If for some sick reason you have to use your real card, make sure to check the receipt they offer you (especially in bars). Many bars will give you the Merchant receipt back, which has your full card details printed on there, complete with expiry date. In a bar, reprobates are known to pick these up and sell them.

Tip 3: Wrap Up

If you can’t make payments through your wallet, then you are probably safe. A popular new scam on public transport in London is on the rise, whereby a reprobate carries a small contactless terminal on their person, and press it against your wallet in your pocket, hoping for a payment. Special cases/thick wallets/awareness are the best combat for this.

Hope you enjoyed the tip of the day, let us know in the comments your favourite contactless tricks!

Posted on May 2, 2017

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Happy new year!

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Happy New Year Security Enthusiasts! New Year, new blog. The team here at fazthebro.com are happy to announce that we have moved our hosting *again*, this time to Cloudflare pages! This has made our site free, we can actually add new posts, it should be faster etc. Previously, I had a wordpress instance that actually cost money. Then I just archived the whole blog to HTML and served that directly on github pages. This was fine, but we couldn't add any new posts easily! So I've gone to the trouble of converting all of the posts to Jekyll format, which wasn't easy. It is still a bit messy, but bear with us while we iron out the kinks. Hope you enjoy the new layout, and have a great start to the new year.

Welcome to Jekyll!

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You’ll find this post in your `_posts` directory. Go ahead and edit it and re-build the site to see your changes. You can rebuild the site in many different ways, but the most common way is to run `jekyll serve`, which launches a web server and auto-regenerates your site when a file is updated. Jekyll requires blog post files to be named according to the following format: `YEAR-MONTH-DAY-title.MARKUP` Where `YEAR` is a four-digit number, `MONTH` and `DAY` are both two-digit numbers, and `MARKUP` is the file extension representing the format used in the file. After that, include the necessary front matter. Take a look at the source for this post to get an idea about how it works. Jekyll also offers powerful support for code snippets: {% highlight ruby %} def print_hi(name) puts "Hi, #{name}" end print_hi('Tom') #=> prints 'Hi, Tom' to STDOUT. {% endhighlight %} Check out the [Jekyll docs][jekyll-docs] for more info on how to get the most out of Jekyll. File all bugs/feature requests at [Jekyll’s GitHub repo][jekyll-gh]. If you have questions, you can ask them on [Jekyll Talk][jekyll-talk]. [jekyll-docs]: https://jekyllrb.com/docs/home [jekyll-gh]: https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll [jekyll-talk]: https://talk.jekyllrb.com/

Frasers razors, the new meta

2 minute read

### [Frazer’s Razors – The NEW META?](https://fazthebro.com/2021/05/13/frazers-razors-the-new-meta/) 6 months ago I decided to ditch the ol’ Gillette Mach III and get the cheapest razor I could buy – the BIC 20 pack. Isn’t a razor just a razor? Isn’t stainless steel just stainless steel? Let’s find out. **Gillette Mach III:** – £15 for 8 Blades (handle not included) – 3 stainless steel blades – £1.8 per blade **BIC:** – £4 for a 20 pack (handles included on each) – 3 stainless steel blades – 20p per blade **Harrys (seems popular):** – £8 for 4 blades (handle not included) – 5 stainless steel blades – £2 per blade So on the face of it, we can see the BIC has the same specs as the Gillette, for a hell of a lot cheaper. The Harrys has 5 blades – but do you really need that many? Theoretically the fewer blades you have the better the shave. There is a reason why professional groomers use a cut-throat single blade. ![](https://fazthebro.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-05-13-11_02_08-Start.png) The BIC triple Razor – for sensitive skin So, onto the part you are all waiting for: the review! Yes, the BIC provides as good of a shave as any shaver I have used. I have done good time on Gillette fusion 5 blade, the Mach 3, the Mach 2, and the Shick Quattro, so I’ve been around the block. The BIC is as good as any of these for closeness and sharpness. I also found that the razors last just as long as any named brand. A blade is a blade. However there is one BIG caveat. For my shaving frequency, the shave takes forever. I shave maybe once every 10 days, so the hairs get long. And my electric shaver doesn’t work so I can’t trim before it. The blades seem to be closer together or something on the BICs and hairs get trapped in, which means you are always having to tap it and remove hairs. However, if you shave every day or second day, this issue doesn’t occur. The moisturizing pad on the shavers are actually pretty decent too! _So, **the verdict:**_ Yes, the BIC blades are as good as any other, but they are especially good for people who shave frequently. I am going to continue using them, as they are so much cheaper. Somehow the blade companies have brainwashed all us suckers into paying 10x their value – just like Weber Q gas canisters…but we will save that for a future post! Make sure to subscribe your email so you get notifications, and other great IT Security tips such as this! Posted on [March 17, 2021](https://fazthebro.com/2021/03/17/ftbs-miq-day-1-4-settling-in/)

Ftbs Miq Day 1 4 Settling In

2 minute read

### [FTBs MIQ | Day 1-4 | ‘Settling in’](https://fazthebro.com/2021/03/17/ftbs-miq-day-1-4-settling-in/) Hi everyone, and welcome back to the hit series: _FTBs MIQ!_ Surprisingly, stuck in a room for the whole day doesn’t give you as much free time as you like. I haven’t found time to write the blog, so I’m packing in a couple days here as they are all basically the same. With a gaming laptop and a good internet connection and 0 guilt about playing games…well. **Day 1** We have been set into a small ‘group’ who gets our Covid tests done together. Got a covid test. The meals aren’t terrible, just bang average. ![](https://fazthebro.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/meal-edited.jpg) Americas Cup is on, and all everyone is talking about. Tune in on the 4K TV – not bad reception. The ‘expert’ panel cracks me up. Everyone but Dean Barker doesn’t look like they’ve been on a boat before in their life – except for the dude who may have arrived on one. **Day 2** We have gotten a blue band and are allowed out! There is a walking track that you can book. It is a 4:35 round trip walking. 40 mins I did a bit over 5k steps. ![](https://fazthebro.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/walkingtrack-1920x1080.jpg) So far have basically just played a ton of Warzone! The aussie servers aren’t great, a lot of problems with ping and crashes and packet loss – a mate commented he had a bit of packet loss in London as well 😛 The death comms are the best thing about Aussie servers. I don’t think I’ve been called a faggot more in my life outside a session with Pmac and Camby. **Day 3** On my daily walk. A cougar is walking the track. Mid forties, blonde, probably does a good amount of yoga. After a couple laps she has made friends with a big young Fijian dude walking the track in Jandals. They now walking together which I’m not sure is allowed. Wonder what will happen there! **Day 4** WARZONE WIN! Finally we won a bloody game of Warzone. Rusty, my ‘friend’ from the MIQ page who also is in isolation have been playing about 7 hours a day. The lack of wins was getting a bit rediculous. When the doctor here calls me for the ‘daily mental health check’ during a game I just want to say ‘ I play a game for 7 hours a day and I’m still shit. How do you think I’m fuckin feeling?’ Fucked up a deployment at work. Made a change without telling anyone and probably in trouble. Probably shouldn’t do prod deployments while 1. Jetlagged 2. Boozed and 3. Playing Warzone at the same time… Game of CS with the kiwi boys! We won one and lost one. I played terrible. But Sloan and the boys keep the spirits high. **Day 5** NZ wins Americas Cup. Well done. The commentary is so biased it almost seems self aware. When NZ in front: ‘Emirates Team New Zealand are playing it brilliantly, excellent move there, the lead is mounting’ When Italy regains the lead: ‘Looks like the race is in nature’s hands at the moment’ **Tech Specs:** Warzone Games: 70 (fuck me) Warzone Wins: 2 Good Meal ratio: 4/16 Tugs: 11 Posted on [March 12, 2021](https://fazthebro.com/2021/03/12/new-series-ftb-in-miq/)