Are EMV Cards As Secure As We Think?

By Stephanie Howard, Groovy

If you have received a new credit card lately, chances are good that it is fundamentally different from your past plastic. After a seemingly endless onslaught of data breaches and credit card fraud, U.S. businesses have finally followed in the footsteps of their European counterparts and adopted credit cards implanted with EMV chips. Designed to totally eliminate contact between a consumer’s credit card and a merchant and to encrypt every aspect of the transaction, these “smartcards” seem to be the answer to the prayers of retailers and law enforcement agencies alike.

But oftentimes with every new solution comes the potential for unforeseen problems. In this case, experts are afraid that EMV technology may have opened the door for an uptick in cyber crime. Considering that online purchases are only increasing in popularity, there is good reason to investigate this possibility further.