Given that this is the SmartSwipe blog, I found it somewhat comical that there were no posts under the “SmartSwipe” section of our blog, so I’ve decided to take the first step and change all that.

For all those of you who are scratching your head wondering how the SmartSwipe works, this article is for you. In these articles, I plan on giving away the secrets of the SmartSwipe. Yep, that’s right. I’m putting them out there for everyone to see.

Some of you are probably wondering if I’ve lost my mind. We’ve got a new product out on the market that deals with securing financial transactions, and here I am giving away its secrets? Am I insane? Won’t it be hacked?

Nope. Not worried about it at all. And I’ll explain why…

It’s a little known fact (outside of computer geek circles) that the most respected and widely used technologies and security products are those whose architectures are widely published and well known. The vast majority of security technologies in use today are based upon well known standards that are freely available on the internet. That’s right – the encryption that’s keeping your account balances safe at the bank, your social security number safe at the DMV, or your medical records at your doctor, are based on processes and algorithms that are readily available on the internet for free.

Why is this?

Simple – because any good technology shouldn’t be afraid of scrutiny. Any security technology worth its salt should still be secure even if people know exactly what’s going on. As a matter of fact, proprietary encryption schemes and other sorts of “secret” security are generally frowned upon by the security community – if you’re secure, what have you got to hide?

Well, we’re secure. And we have nothing to hide. So let’s get ready to dig in.