EMV Security is Coming, Ready or Not (And You’d Better Be!)

EMV Security

Quite a while ago, not long after the Target data breach, I wrote a detailed  blog about the importance of the United States catching up to more than 80 other countries who already employ EMV security measures for their credit and debit cards.  (EMV refers to “Europay, Mastercard, and Visa” or “Chip and PIN” technology.)  Why so important?  This one statistic should answer that question: Almost half of the world’s credit card fraud now happens in the United States —even though only a quarter of all credit card transactions happen here.

As a consumer, you should be glad of the change because you will be much better protected than with traditional magnetic stripe technology we’ve clung to for so long.  EMV authentication includes a cryptographic message that makes each transaction unique. Having a card that is difficult to hack or duplicate and requires something YOU know (a PIN) will provide extra layers of protection.

If you are a business owner, you’d BETTER be aware of this required change because as of October of 2015, the burden of fraud will no longer be on the issuing banks, but the merchant who accepts bad cards and is not set up with an EMV reader.

The bottom line: the use of EMV security measures will help make YOUR bottom line a lot more secure!  That’s something I can get behind!

John Sileo is an an award-winning author and keynote speaker on identity theft, internet privacy, fraud training & technology defense. John specializes in making security entertaining, so that it works. John is CEO of The Sileo Group, whose clients include the Pentagon, Visa, Homeland Security & Pfizer. John’s body of work includes appearances on 60 Minutes, Rachael Ray, Anderson Cooper & Fox Business. Contact him directly on 800.258.8076.

 

Posted by Identity Theft Speaker in Identity Theft Prevention and tagged , , , .

3 Responses to EMV Security is Coming, Ready or Not (And You’d Better Be!)

  1. debbie: March 13, 2015 at 11:07 pm

    That’s going to be real neat america needs protection like this. This is really genuine.

  2. Bob: March 17, 2015 at 6:39 pm

    What about the old credit cards? How will they be phased out and will they still work during the implementation of EMV?

  3. John Sileo, Identity Theft Speaker: March 18, 2015 at 6:34 pm

    Great question, Bob. There is no real clear timeline for phasing out the old style of mag swipe. So yes, those will work for many years to come (which is unfortunate from the security side of things) but easier from a convenience standpoint.

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