Do you feel secure when using your credit cards at retailers? Do you feel less safe after retailer Target revealed that hackers stole the information on 40 million customers who used their credit cards at Target stores across the nation? Here’s some good news: CBS Minnesota recently reported that new technology could make such credit-card data breaches less common.
Waiting for smart cards
As CBS Minnesota reports, smart cards could be an immense help. These cards store all of a consumer’s accounts on one piece of plastic. That sounds risky. But these cards make use of microchips and PINs to keep consumer data safe. The cards are already popular throughout much of Europe, and hackers are rarely successful in cracking them.
Who’s that masked card?
Masked cards, though, are here. According to CBS Minnesota, these cards generate a temporary number when consumers use them, either at brick-and-mortar retailers or online. Then, after the transaction is completed, that temporary number disappears. Which means that even if hackers steal the number, they can’t use it to make additional purchases.
Why the delay?
Of course, after the Target disaster, consumers have the right to wonder why safer smart cards aren’t already available in the United States. There is no easy answer. But some speculate that credit-card companies haven’t yet upgraded to the new equipment necessary to make these high-tech cards work. And until they do? The smart cards won’t arrive in the United States.