CVV / CVC
Definition
Card Verification Value (Visa) or Card Verification Code (Mastercard). CVV1 is encoded on the magnetic stripe, CVV2/CVC2 is the 3-digit printed code on the reverse, CID is the 4-digit code on the Amex front.
- Visa name
- Card Verification Value (CVV)
- Mastercard name
- Card Verification Code (CVC)
- CVV1
- Encoded on the magnetic stripe
- CVV2/CVC2
- 3-digit printed code on the card reverse
- Amex equivalent
- 4-digit CID on the card front
Common questions
Why do CVV1 and CVV2 exist as separate codes on the same card?+
CVV1 is embedded in the magnetic stripe data to validate card-present swipe transactions, while CVV2 is printed only on the card surface and used to prove the physical card is in hand during card-not-present transactions, so a cloned stripe without the printed code fails online verification.
Can a forensic examiner recover CVV2 from a card's magnetic stripe data?+
No. CVV2 is deliberately excluded from the stripe encoding, so stripe dumps recovered from skimming devices or cloned cards will not contain it, which is a useful distinction when assessing what a seized card duplicator actually captured.
Related terms
- BIN / IIN
- Bank Identification Number, formally the Issuer Identification Number under ISO/IEC 7812. The first six digits of the PAN identify the issuing institution...
- Embossing
- Raised characters on older card fronts produced by an embosser; modern cards are increasingly flat-printed because POS imprinters are obsolete.
- EMV Chip
- Integrated-circuit chip following the EMV (Europay-Mastercard-Visa) specification. Contact interface per ISO/IEC 7816, contactless per ISO/IEC 14443. Generates dynamic cryptograms that defeat static-data...
- Hologram
- Diffractive optical security feature: Visa dove, Mastercard interlocking globes, RuPay tricolour. Hard to reproduce without specialised embossing equipment.
- Magnetic Stripe
- Ferromagnetic strip on the card reverse encoding account data on three tracks per ISO/IEC 7811. Track 1 alphanumeric (79 chars), Track 2...
- NFC
- Near Field Communication, the 13.56 MHz contactless radio interface used for tap-to-pay. Built on ISO/IEC 14443 and underlies UPI Lite and RuPay...
- PVC Card Body
- Standard payment card construction: polyvinyl chloride core sandwiched between two transparent laminated overlays. Card dimensions 85.60 by 53.98 mm per ISO/IEC 7810...
- Shimmer
- Thin sliver-shaped device inserted inside the chip reader of an ATM or POS to intercept data exchanged with the EMV chip.
- Signature Panel
- White panel on the card reverse printed with a tamper-evident background (often the issuer name repeated or the word VOID appearing if...
- Skimmer
- Overlay device fitted on an ATM card slot or POS terminal that reads and stores the magnetic stripe data of cards swiped...
- Tokenisation
- RBI-mandated mechanism that replaces the PAN stored at merchants with a token usable only by that merchant, reducing the value of stolen...