MasterCard, Visa renew their push for chip cards

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Visa and MasterCard are renewing a push to speed the adoption of microchips into U.S. credit and debit cards in the wake of recent high-profile data breaches, including this week’s revelation that hackers stole consumer data from eBay’s computer systems.

Card-processing companies argue that a move away from the black magnetic strips on the backs of credit cards would eliminate a substantial amount of U.S. credit-card fraud.

They say it’s time to offer U.S. consumers the greater protections microchips provide by joining Canada, Mexico and most of Western Europe in using cards with the more-advanced technology.

Chips aren’t perfect, says Carolyn Balfany, MasterCard’s group head for U.S. product delivery, but the extra barrier they present is one of the reasons criminals often choose to target U.S.- issued cards, whose magnetic strips are easy to replicate.

“Typically, fraudsters are going to go to the path of least resistance,” Balfany says.

The chip technology hasn’t been adopted in the U.S. because of costs and disputes over how the network would operate.

The disputes have largely been resolved. And the epic breach of Target’s computer systems in December, which involved the theft of 40 million debit- and credit-card numbers, along with smaller breaches at companies such as Neiman Marcus and Michaels, helped garner support for chip-based cards among retailers who were previously put off by the costs.

Chip cards are safer, argue supporters, because unlike magnetic strip cards that transfer a credit-card number when they are swiped at a point-of-sale terminal, chip cards use a one-time code that moves between the chip and the retailer’s register. The result is a transfer of data that is useless to anyone except the parties involved. Chip cards, say experts, are also nearly impossible to copy.