Last week the Ingenico Mobile Solutions team was in Las Vegas for Money2020. The show was a great success (as always) and now as the team settles back into the office in Boston it’s time to reflect and recap the event.
Last week the Ingenico Mobile Solutions team was in Las Vegas for Money2020. The show was a great success (as always) and now as the team settles back into the office in Boston it’s time to reflect and recap the event.
The details of changing security solutions can be confusing, not least because of the proliferation of terms and abbreviations with specific payment-industry meanings. Here are some industry terms and acronyms that can help define and explain the components of multi-layered security:
In most other countries, card-present fraud has been virtually eliminated by the widespread implementation of EMV; as a result, that fraud has moved to the U.S., where magnetic stripe technology prevails. Adopting EMV will require operational changes for the Issuer, the Merchant, the Processor and the Acquirer. Here are a few of the things everyone in the industry should understand about implementing EMV:
Magnetic stripe data is static – the same information is sent on every transaction. Because magnetic stripe cards have no reliable means of authentication, cardholder authentication is limited to:
Why right now? The liability shift is still months away. Many of your customers don’t have chip cards (in fact, many of them probably have no idea what that even means).
So why now instead of later?
This is not just another new program from the card brands. Europe and most of the rest of the world have been using chip-based technologies to combat fraud for 14+ years. So we in the US are already behind the curve (or, potentially, behind the eight ball, which leads me to the second reason).
They call it a “data breach.” An “attack by unknown hackers.” “Sensitive” customer information becomes “exposed.” Credit and debit cards are “compromised.” Pundits wring their hands; merchants live in fear; and customers become increasingly wary of using their cards. Still, the reports just keep coming in.
Let’s be honest: the core problem is that using stolen MSR card data to create and sell counterfeit cards is big business. Big, international, lucrative business. It’s an organized crime scheme that is increasingly migrating to the US because we are one of the last countries to implement EMV to authenticate cards used in payment transactions. In essence, we’re leaving the back door wide open and inviting the counterfeiters in.
