Time for smartcards

The Hill ^ | 3 Feb 14 | John J. Mulligan

[SkyPilot]

The data breach that struck our company spotlighted the sophistication of criminal hacker networks operating across the globe. We know the attack created significant concerns for millions of customers. We will learn from this incident and we will work to make Target, and the wider business community, more secure in the future.

One step American businesses could now take that would dramatically improve the security of all credit and debit cards: adoption of chip-enabled smartcards. The technology is already widely used throughout the world. For many reasons, the United States has been slow to embrace the technology at home. We need to change.

At Target, we've been working for years towards adoption of this technology. Since the breach, we are accelerating our own $100 million investment to put chip-enabled technology in place. Our goal: implement this technology in our stores and on our proprietary REDcards by early 2015, more than six months ahead of our previous plan.

Nothing is more important to Target than our customers. We are who we are because of their trust and loyalty. That is why it is so important to move forward with a more secure technology.

For consumers, this technology differs in important ways from what is widely used in the United States today. The standard credit and debit cards we use now have a magnetic stripe containing the customer's information. When first introduced, that stripe was an innovation. But in today's world, more is needed. The latest "smart cards" have tiny microprocessor chips that encrypt the personal data shared with the sales terminals used by merchants. Why is such a change important? Even if a thief manages to steal a smart card number, it's useless without the chip.

[SkyPilot]

They always sell you slavery on the pretext that it is really freedom and security:

In addition, requiring the use of a four-digit personal identification number (PIN) to complete a sales transaction would provide even greater safety. To be frank, there is no consensus across the business community on the use of PINs in conjunction with chip-enabled cards. But Target supports the goal and will work toward adoption of the practice in our own stores and more widely.

Keep this in mind also: the website "The Hill" in which this editorial/blog was published is one of the most widely read by Washington politicians, staffers, and lobbyists.

I believe the "smartcard" for every man, women, and child will take hold. Eventually it will be an issued card with a PIN, similar to the Common Access Cards (CAC) that the US military, US Government, and many companies now use.

You will also be given the option of using your Smartphone. Payment via Smartphone is now proven technology, and (so far) secure. It will also be "sold" to the American public as part of immigration "reform" and also "tax reform." It will also be sold as part of the War on Drugs (because it will eventually replace cash transactions). All electronic financial transactions are already tracked. All of them.

Thumbprint scans already come with every single new iPhone so that only you can use it. To those who believe in Bible prophecy, hang onto your hats.

Individual QR-type technology is already here.

I think we are still many years away from employing this. It would have to be in use and authorized worldwide with a common set of parameters, and based on common currency. But all the foundations are now there.

[SkyPilot]

Ping

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Never let a crisis go to waste.

[Vigilanteman]

I lived in Japan from 1988 to 2002. Almost every credit card issued there had ICC technology when we came back over 10 years ago.

In addition, new ATM cards and credit cards were always sent registered mail (had to sign for it), even though credit card fraud is minuscule compared to the U.S.A.

I don't know why we've been so slow to embrace the technology.

[lurk]

Sub-dermal chips. Now, that would be absolutely secure, eh?

[chris37]

Generally, when they put in the word “smart” to describe a product, it means it’s not.

For example the “Smart Car”, and the “Smartphone” and the “Smart Meter”.

It’s a trick, don’t fall for it, or I’ll laugh at you.

[morphing libertarian]

Chip and pin

[TurboZamboni]

And the “MY-IRA” will stay in the new lockbox.

Jon Corzine and Kathleen Sebelius will oversee implementation.

[SkyPilot]

I don't know why we've been so slow to embrace the technology.

I have heard the same thing/criticism from friends of mine who live overseas.

The US media could create a firestorm of panic on this subject if they wanted to.

Outdated Magnetic Strips: How U.S. Credit Card Security Lags

"Other countries moved beyond this technology years ago. , and are already using chip-based cards, which are considered more secure. (Magnetic stripe technology is decades old.) Cards using the chip-and-PIN system have an embedded microchip. Instead of swiping the part with a magnetic stripe, you put the card into a terminal, then enter a PIN or sign your name. It's more expensive for criminals to forge these cards, says Brian Krebs, a security journalist who writes for and broke the story on the breach at Target."

So many European and Asian countries have already moved away from magnetic strip technology, but the US will not invest Billions in a system that only takes us halfway to the next technological plateau. I think we will move directly to a national CAC like card, followed by an individual human QR code.

[SkyPilot]

And the “MY-IRA” will stay in the new lockbox.

Yes - and that program will swiftly lead to a nationalization of all retirement funds.

Getting interesting, isn't it?

[Buckeye McFrog]

Or they can just stamp “666” on your forehead...

[metmom]

Cash for me.

[GraceG]

How about carrying cash + Self defense measures ie. firearms....

Seems a LOT more secure than current methods which provide neither...

[Rebelbase]

In other news there has been a rash of criminal activity resulting in people being kidnapped, forced to give up their pin# then having their hands chopped off and used to drain ATMs of the cash in their account.

[Olog-hai]

London is going “cashless” on its buses this summer. Makes me wonder why the Borismaster was even bought, since that was supposed to have restored the appeal that the old Routemasters had with paying a cash fare to the conductor . . . ??

Yes, this is pretty bad. Another way to control how people buy; it’ll only lead to expansion of the black underground market.

[sportutegrl]

As long as you don’t have to have one to vote, I’m good with it. (Extreme Sarcasm Alert.)

[familyop]

"I believe the 'smartcard' for every man, women, and child will take hold."

Microchip and track the political/reguator class--every man, woman and child--after their debt regime finds its conclusion of repudiation and end of foreign trade.

[familyop]

Everyone with an ongoing good moral education should move toward using cash.

[SkyPilot]

Cash will eventually cease. In the US, over 80% of all transactions are now cashless. Plus, the government cannot monitor cash transactions. That hinders their control, ability to track, and ability to tax. There are some obstacles still to cross, but they are all easy to implement.