Chip cards use encryption that makes them harder to clone than magnetic stripe cards, which are vulnerable to skimming. But merchants have been slow to adopt the technology, and consumers still need to monitor their statements and enable fraud alerts for full protection.
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A lot of you are using plastic this holiday shopping season.
Credit card companies are still rolling out new technology that is supposed to protect you from fraud, but the new chip-enabled cards can still put your identity at risk. Sometimes you swipe, sometimes you insert.
Does take a little longer, and I don't know if it's doing anything.
Many shoppers now have and are able to use their credit and debit cards that have a chip on them, but the transition has not been easy.
Most, uh, businesses are kind of adapting at different paces, so it's actually often pretty inconvenient.
You never know what you need to do Chip-enabled credit and debit cards require a PIN or a signature, and each transaction gets a unique code that makes it tougher, but not impossible, for fraudulent purchases.
Just because the card has a chip in it does not mean that it's not hackable.
Robert Siciliano is a security expert with Hotspot Shield. Because not every bank or retailer has converted to chip cards and readers, the cards still have a magnetic stripe. Siciliano says that stripe, makes a chip card extremely vulnerable.
The magnetic stripe is old technology that can easily be replicated.
We've shown you how thieves are using skimming devices that scan and steal all your private information stored on that magnetic stripe. The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office tells us it's received more than 400 reports of credit/debit card breaches as of October this year.
Thought it was important to protect ourselves and our clients.
G2O Spa and Salon on Newbury Street spent $750 for each of its new chip card readers this fall. Director Lisa Hill said it has been a learning process for everyone.
A bit challenging. Clients didn't quite know how to use them. Um, we still have to explain a little bit about them. They're not so mainstream.
A National Retail Federation survey done this spring found that 86% of responding retailers expected to have the chip reader system up and running by the end of the year. Siciliano says until all retailers and banks get on board, your card remains at risk.
The magnetic stripe still makes a chipped card extremely vulnerable. That magnetic stripe eventually will be phased out, but could be as much as 5 to 10 years.
Until those magnetic stripes go away, Robert recommends checking your bank statements regularly and signing up to get real-time alerts so you know every time a charge is made.
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