The new Celtic smart card system for gaining entry into the ground has become a target for troublemakers. Posts have been removed from certain websites after lengthy discussions on possible ways of disrupting or closing down the system.
The new system is in place to both speed up entry into the ground and to stop duplicate season book vouchers being used to allow too many people into the ground. At busier games last season we had ticket mayhem as fans tried to get into the same seats and also many seatless fans congregated around the rear walls of the stand and concourse areas. Up until now all we had to do was hand over a voucher to gain entry and if a lost or stolen season book was presented there was no way the gate staff could tell. Now if a card is lost or stolen a replacement can be given and the original card when swiped will not allow entry. A great idea in principal and hopefully the technology will work smoothly.
Some internet users however have been looking at ways to abuse and disrupt the system and some highly technical versions of how to do this had appeared on opposing fans websites. While we wont go into the details we can reveal that these ideas went from cloning the cards to gain entry (which can be done but which will only let the first person to swipe that card number in) which is a simple concept right up to using cards with information on them which would "confuse" the system causing it to shut down. Lessons however have been learned after the the smart card system at Ibrox caused the system to fail and the Celtic system is said to be foolproof.
The new system is in place to both speed up entry into the ground and to stop duplicate season book vouchers being used to allow too many people into the ground. At busier games last season we had ticket mayhem as fans tried to get into the same seats and also many seatless fans congregated around the rear walls of the stand and concourse areas. Up until now all we had to do was hand over a voucher to gain entry and if a lost or stolen season book was presented there was no way the gate staff could tell. Now if a card is lost or stolen a replacement can be given and the original card when swiped will not allow entry. A great idea in principal and hopefully the technology will work smoothly.
Some internet users however have been looking at ways to abuse and disrupt the system and some highly technical versions of how to do this had appeared on opposing fans websites. While we wont go into the details we can reveal that these ideas went from cloning the cards to gain entry (which can be done but which will only let the first person to swipe that card number in) which is a simple concept right up to using cards with information on them which would "confuse" the system causing it to shut down. Lessons however have been learned after the the smart card system at Ibrox caused the system to fail and the Celtic system is said to be foolproof.