Friday, April 04, 2014: With fraud and theft of personal data and capital, the complaints have affected more than 100 million people who use credit cards. Understanding the security issues and vulnerabilities, credit card makers and issuers have resolved to develop an advanced system for users to ensure lesser breaches. Credit cards will soon be infused with smart chips and advanced computer programming software.
According to an ET report, credit card fraud sums up to $5.3 billion in US in just one year (2012). Ellen Richey, chief legal officer at Visa said, “It’s about taking vulnerable data out of the merchant environment.” So far, EMV has been labelled as the smartest solution, wherein “cards are embedded with smart chips authenticating that their bearers are their rightful users. The chip is also extraordinarily difficult for thieves to counterfeit,” said the report.
The card users or holders can verify each deal via PIN or signature authentication, which are obviously not very secure. It is likely that cards with both chip and PIN authentication may soon be introduced by the end of this year. It is to be noted that the technology has reached Europe and some parts of Asia, but factors like cost have still put the sytsem to reach most countries. A single chip carrying credit card costs nearly $1.30 against a plastic card with a magnetic that costs hardly 10 cents.
Shirley W. Inscoe, analyst, Aite Group said, “EMV is going to cost billions of dollars to implement in this country.” As per a report by Aite, a research firm, the amount lost to credit card breaches is rising by 30 to 50 per cent every year. Eileen Serra, the chief executive of Chase Card Services said, “I think this will become a defining moment about how we in the industry think about security.”
