Introversion announces amBX version of DEFCON

[wwarnick]

([0-9]{4}) ([0-9]{4}) ([0-9]{4}) ([0-9]{4})

I'm trying to figure out what that means. Does it mean that there's 4 groups of 4 digits? In that case, darn it, you've got me pegged! But I bet you don't know the confirmation number, or whatever it's called.

wwarnick

[NeoThermic]

([0-9]{4}) ([0-9]{4}) ([0-9]{4}) ([0-9]{4})

I'm trying to figure out what that means. Does it mean that there's 4 groups of 4 digits? In that case, darn it, you've got me pegged! But I bet you don't know the confirmation number, or whatever it's called.

wwarnick

Thats regex speak for 4 groups of 4 digits ranging from 0 to 9 for each digit.

As for the confirmation code,

([0-9]{3,4})

NeoThermic

[wwarnick]

3 or 4? 50/50 chance.

wwarnick

[xander]

3 or 4? 50/50 chance.

wwarnick

Not quite. It depends upon what kind of card you have.

xander

[wwarnick]

Then what kind of card do I have?

wwarnick

[NeoThermic]

Then what kind of card do I have?

wwarnick

Simple. If you have an American Express card, then it'll be 4 digits. Else it'll be 3.

NeoThermic

[xander]

Then what kind of card do I have?

wwarnick

I don't know, but the chances of you haveing, say, a Visa vs a MasterCard are not 50/50. There are many types of cards, and they are not uniformly distributed. Furthemore, you have yet to show independence.
xander

[wwarnick]

you have yet to show independence.

Meaning? I don't want to take this the wrong way.

wwarnick

[xander]

you have yet to show independence.

Meaning? I don't want to take this the wrong way.

wwarnick

Statistical independence. The result of one trial cannot depend upon the result of another. Your choice of card may be related to your parents choice, or your geographical location, or you may have many cards, or one of many other factors. That means that they type of card that you have is not independent from the cards that other people have, which makes it that much harder to assign probabilities to the type of card that you, or anyone else, has.

xander

[wwarnick]

Ah. Well, Neothermic be praised. The odds were against him and he still guessed correctly. Unfortunately, he still needs the expiration date and my name.

wwarnick

[NeoThermic]

Ah. Well, Neothermic be praised. The odds were against him and he still guessed correctly. Unfortunately, he still needs the expiration date and my name.

wwarnick

The expiration date as a regex would be something like ([0-9]{2}/[0-9]{2}). Your name is a bit tricker, as we have to contemplate unicode. However, at a guess, you've no special characters in your name, so something like this would work: ([a-z\.\- ]+)i

Although if one wanted to be really mischievous, I'm sure it wouldn't take too long to find out enough info about you to get your major details. I mean, given the IP of your post and the time of it, I could fesably obtain your name from your ISP's RADIUS logs. It would require a bit of special handling to obtain the details (social engineering, in short), but it could be done. As for the card details... in theory once I know your full name and address, I can look up your family history. After that I could get a credit check done on you to find out who you bank with. All I would have to do then is call your bank up, use your mothers maiden name (this is why I *hate* those questions), and obtain your card details that way. Although that would require social engineering on a level that I'm not sure I can pass of on.

NeoThermic

[wwarnick]

With my mother's maiden name, they'll just hand out my credit card number?

wwarnick

[xander]

With my mother's maiden name, they'll just hand out my credit card number?

wwarnick

Possibly not the number, but with your name, your address, and your mother's maiden name, yes, he can probably get access to your financial information. As he says, that is why those questions are so stupid.

xander

[NeoThermic]

With my mother's maiden name, they'll just hand out my credit card number?

wwarnick

Most credit companies will ask you to give your mother's maiden name as proof that you are who you say you are to access credit info. Although since I hate those questions, I never give my mothers maiden name.

But yes, the above situation is more than possible if you're not careful.

NeoThermic

[wwarnick]

That's no proof at all. Anyone can find a maiden name. Another reason to cut up all your credit cards.

wwarnick