Ensuring Holiday Card Safety as EMV Delay Extends 3 More Christmases

During this festive season, people frequently use their cards, both online and offline, creating a bustling activity. Consequently, hackers keen on accessing financial information are on high alert. Thus, in this blog, we provide essential tips for ensuring card safety during the holidays.

Holiday Security Tips for Card Users and Businesses

Towards that end, one credit union is offering some holiday security tips for card users and businesses.

Protecting Your PIN Number

They highlight that, for added security, shoppers should opt to process debit cards as credit cards, thereby safeguarding their PIN numbers. Moreover, they emphasize the potential vulnerability of PINs due to the heat signature left on non-metal keypads. This signature, detectable by infrared cameras on smartphones, can reveal your PIN. To counteract this, they suggest placing your fingers on multiple keys as you enter your PIN.

That sounds nearly like the stuff of spy movies, but then, so is the idea of everyone having a portable computer in their pockets.

Secure Online Shopping

For online shopping, the article also recommends shopping “on sites with https:// in the URL, and be sure that an icon with a lock appears to the left. The ‘s’ stands for ‘secure’ and indicates data is encrypted,” while being sure not to do that while using public, unsecured WiFi signals. (And if you must, look into getting VPN protection for your device).

EMV Chip Cards and Merchant Readiness

The same article also notes that “EMV chip cards provide an extra layer of security when you pay at stores, (but) not all merchants have chip readers.”

And according to recent news reports, one group of merchants who won’t be getting EMV protections anytime soon are those who sell you motor fuel: “Both Visa and MasterCard announced they are delaying the EMV liability shift for U.S. fuel dispensers from October 2017 to October 2020,” as one convenience store news site reported.

Delayed EMV Liability Shift for Fuel Dispensers

According to Visa, they recognized that the AFD, or “Automatic Fuel Dispenser” market, would require an extended period to transition to chip technology due to its intricate infrastructure and specialized fuel pump technology. For example, certain older pumps might need replacement before integrating chip readers, necessitating expert vendors and even breaking into concrete.

One financial services spokesperson said that “EMV as a technology standard is in place to provide consumers with built-in security as they make card-present transactions. Pushing the timeline on execution of this standard at the nation’s self-serve gas pumps is concerning, even frustrating, for the credit unions and banks that today carry the fraud liability burden on those transactions,” and noted there’s been “a large increase in fraud originating from automated fuel dispensers. That’s largely because the installation of skimming devices on these terminals is so easy.”

Consider Year-Round Card Safety

That means you might want to consider some of these “holiday” card safety tips as being operative year-round.

EMV Readiness for Your Business

As for EMV readiness, your business doesn’t need to experience any delay at all.  Get in touch with your AVPS rep for any upgrades, security overhauls, etc., that you might need for your business, and your customers.

We’re here over the holidays — and all the other days after that!https://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/161/3/2/vintage_christmas_gift_tag_santa_claus_by_fotarium-d7lvw33.jpg