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From: outer@utcsri.UUCP
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: Re: Putting two and two together (ATMs)
Message-ID: <5124@utcsri.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 22-Jul-87 19:39:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsri.5124
Posted: Wed Jul 22 19:39:45 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 24-Jul-87 01:37:29 EDT
References: <3086@zen.berkeley.edu>
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Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
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> 	Can anyone out there think of a reason why banks shouldn't 
> automatically generate a random* offset for all their cards?

Usually the offset is used to >offset< a customer chosen PIN.  So the offset
is entirely determined by the PIN the customer chooses.  In principle there's
nothing to prevent the issuing institution from choosing an assigned PIN at
random, computing the natural PIN, and determining the card's offset from
the two of them accordingly.

-- 
Richard Outerbridge		 (416) 961-4757
Payload Deliveries:	N 43 39'36", W 79 23'42", Elev. 106.47m.