On October 8, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a public service announcement warning that EMV cards, while offering enhanced security, can still be targeted by fraudsters. Grillo said that the industry, both retailers and banks, have certainly done a poor job of making consumers aware of this shift and what the implications are for them.
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Chip-enabled cards are safer than what’s been in Americans’ wallets. At a minimum, merchants should use secure servers and payment links for all Internet transactions with credit and debit cards, and information should be encrypted, if possible, to avert hackers from compromising card information provided by consumers.
However, they removed the message less than a day later, following concerns from US bankers that back a more traditional approach that supports chip cards with the use of signatures rather than Personal Identification Numbers (PINs). Retailers have asserted that their investment of billions of dollars in new terminals to support the new credit card technology through the use of chip cards should be accompanied by a willingness by banks and card companies to support PIN technology.
Safe Harbor Statement: Certain of the above statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties.
SmartMetric, the creator of the world’s first biometric activated EMV chip in a credit/debit card, is now working on delivering a miniature chip card connector for reading its biometric chip card for online computer and or mobile phone buying.
“The PIN version of the chip card adds another level security and certainly has a stronger security protocol to it, but I think given the fact that it has taken us this long to move to chip-and-signature, I would be surprised at how quickly chip-and-PIN follows at least on the credit side”. While chips make the new cards more hard to counterfeit, the chip can be circumvented, and the chips do nothing to protect lost and stolen cards from being used. Business consumers will need to apply for a card using their EIN or SS number.
With chip and PIN, the cardholder inserts their card and enters a four-digit password to approve the transaction. This increases the amount that they are actually paying for the item compared to using a debit card. It’s not yet clear whether consumers will be able to use it in other stores or restaurants without a PIN. He further asserted that PINs won’t be used in the U.S. However, America is the only first world country that still relies on magnetic strips and signatures for most credit-card transactions.
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Banks here have opted for signature authentication, which they argue is secure enough and easier for USA consumer to accept. Credit card information taken over the telephone or through online means should be protected by the retailer to include encrypting digital information and securely disposing written credit card information. Until now, a few Target customers had cards that were only valid at the department store, and others had Visa credit cards that could be used anywhere that accepted credit cards.
