It had to happen.

[Chris Allman]

Well guys and gals Visa Card systems have gone down all over Europe & the UK. Shops demanding Cash Only. Great disruption to financial activity by the general public, its no joke, its happened. This all rather flies in the face of those advocating getting rid of cash and the now ubiquitous cheque. Card stops working, err what now everyone says. Just shows the chaos this brings to everyone. A backup is definitely needed, any ideas .............

I bet I know whats happened - Mr Vladimir Putin has said " you stopped my comrade Roman Abramovich getting his Visa - now I stop you all from having your Visa

[robpage]

It just shows the vulnerability of electronic systems , when you consider that a man with Asperger's syndrome broke into the CIA computer a few years ago the one computer in America that should be bomb proof it makes you doubt all the system's all you need is someone that can just look at a system in a different way and find his way through it . When you consider the first computer I bought over 25 years ago had a 40 Mb hard drive that I said I would never be able to fill compared to my laptop that now has a terabyte the systems have got a million times more complicated and the more complicated you make something the more mistakes can be built into it the more mistakes the more places there are so many complicated subroutines that errors could occur easily and if not errors there are so many places that needs securing that you only need the one guy to break in I don't trust any of them

[vic mcclymont]

IBM reckoned for every 10,000 lines of code there was one line with an error in it.
Vic

[Doc Vernon]

Similar happened here in NSW last Week with al the ATM Machines and Shops not operating at a Major Bank here ,caused a heck of a lot of disruptions,no one could use their cards anywhere causing Shops to close and many were so frustrated that at some places they simply just said take the goods free!
A huge loss that day.

[j.sabourn]

Vic can you still get money out of machines in uk with a card. Years ago used to travel with American ExpressTravellsrs Cheques ,today rely on machines.. would hate to borrow 10 bob from Cappy he has such scandalous interest rates.seriously though if this problem persists will have to make other arrangements in a hurry. Most people today live on credit cards, I never have, only when on holiday just for convenience . Think I have a few roubles left from years ago in the hope. Of their value going up maybe they may come in useful now. Cheers JWS

[robpage]

When travelling in the US and in Europe I always kept a reserve fund in American Express travellers cheques never ever had problems catching them anywhere in Greece the corner shop would catch them in the States they would date them like currency but in France nobody would take them you had to go to the local post office and only the post office would change them into euros .

[happy daze john in oz]

Do not think we can still get travelers cheques here in Oz anymore.

Couple of weeks ago a telecom box was hit by lightening and half the country were without phones.
As Vernon tells it some of the big supermarkets were out for a day with the system down.


I use a travel card to carry money overseas, put money on before I go and any left get back at the same rate it went on.

Very handy as it will take up to ten currencies at a time.

But with all the hackers now out there it is only time before the lot crashes.

[j.sabourn]

#6... judging by. The harsh words of acrimony being shouted at Trump through the media about trade taxes etc. maybe France started it off by refusing the good old American Travellers Cheques. Everyone getting their knickers in a twist when the big end of town is threatened. If prices go up which they will as the manufacturer of goods will not bear a loss, it will all go to the little man to bear the brunt. Don’t know how they have the cheek to appeal to the taxpayer and all those. Who will lose and not them. Bull**** baffles brains again ? JWS

[Doc Vernon]

That's the way w go John Travel Money Cards ours from the Comm Bank never had any troubles with it! And as you say good for quite a few Currencies
Cheers

[Keith Tindell]

As I posted before, the next war will be a cyber war, just imagine if you hacked into all the vehicle engines and switched them off, at the same time took out all the radio stations and the power stations, you would have the country at your mercy, far fetched idea??, maybe, but virtually everything is now linked to the Internet, and is therefor hack able, kt