Contactless reader (NFC reader): what it is and how it is attacked
A pad that reads a card, a phone or a wristband held against it, usually to take a payment.
Also known as
- NFC reader
- tap reader
- payment terminal
- card terminal
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
It handles payment data and sits in a public area where anybody can touch it. That combination is unusual, and it is regulated.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Substitution or tampering in a public area, because one terminal looks much like another to a customer
- Terminals connected to the ordinary shop or office network rather than a dedicated one
- Estates managed by an installer holding standing remote access
What reduces it
- Serial checks and tamper seals, done by the people who use the device daily rather than on an audit cycle
- Give card handling equipment its own segment
- Establish who can reach the terminals remotely and how that access is approved
Where it sits
- Group
- Wireless and radio · The parts of the network that travel through the air, and how far they reach.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- contactless-reader
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in wireless and radio
- Wi-Fi access pointAP · wireless · WAPLets devices join the network without a cable.
- Wireless network nameSSID · network name · WLAN · guest wifiThe name devices show in their list of available wireless networks.
- Wireless controllerWLC · wireless LAN controller · AP controller · cloud-managed wirelessThe single system that configures and watches every wireless access point.
- Mobile broadband router4G router · 5G router · cellular modem · MiFi · dongle · tetheringA box, or a phone, that gives a network its own connection through the mobile phone network.
- Satellite terminalVSAT · satcom · satellite internet · BGANA dish or flat panel that connects a site to the internet through a satellite.
- Satellite time and location receiverGPS · GNSS · GPS clock · grandmaster clock · timing sourceA device that works out where it is, and what the time is, from satellites.
- Bluetooth deviceBT · Bluetooth Low Energy · BLE · pairing · wireless keyboardSomething that connects to a phone or a computer over a short-range radio link: a headset, a keyboard, a car.
- Low-power radio deviceLoRa · LoRaWAN · Zigbee · Z-Wave · sub-GHz · wireless sensorA small battery-powered sensor or switch that sends short messages over a long range: a meter, a door contact, a thermostat.
- Radio gatewayIoT gateway · LoRaWAN gateway · Zigbee hub · protocol bridge · smart hubThe box that turns messages from small wireless sensors into ordinary network traffic.
- Wireless monitoring sensorWIDS · WIPS · wireless intrusion detection · air monitorEquipment that listens to the airwaves and reports transmitters that should not be there.
The wireless and radio group lists all 11 of them side by side.
Contactless reader on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type NFC reader. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker