EMV Can’t Come Soon Enough

An investigation is taking place regarding a credit card breach at GoodWill locations nationwide.  They first noticed the possible incident on Friday July, 18th with the activity similar to other data breaches that have taken place like Michaels, Target and Neiman Marcus.

With all these security breaches taking place it seems the change to EMV cards can’t come soon enough.  The deadline is coming on October 1, 2015 and as Visa’s announcement states, “Currently, POS counterfeit fraud is largely absorbed by card issuers. With the liability shift, if a contact chip card is presented to a merchant that has not adopted, at minimum, contact chip terminals, the ability for counterfeit fraud may shift to the merchant’s acquirer.”

EMV-enabled cards rely on an embedded chip and PIN number instead of the traditional magnetic stripe and signature that the U.S uses today. This strategy reduces the vulnerability of cardholder data when making purchases, preventing ‘skimming’ or copying card data embedded in a card’s magstripe.  EMV cards and terminals have already been adopted in other parts of the world and have helped to reduce fraud, chargebacks, and card counterfeits.