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The United States is not a haven for card-data attackers because opportunities for fraud exist in many other countries that also rely on magnetic stripe card technology. However, fraudsters increasingly will attack U.S. businesses as more foreign countries adopt chip-and-PIN technology, a representative from Chicago-based data-security company Trustwave tells CardLine sister publication ISO&Agent Weekly. Chip-and-PIN cards refer to smart banking cards that carry international EMV antifraud protections. EMV smart cards contain a computer chip capable of storing data that uniquely identifies the card and the cardholder. With chip and PIN, consumers enter a personal identification number to authenticate themselves at the point of sale, and the chip on the card compares the PIN entered by the consumer against the number stored on the card. With mag-stripe credit cards, consumers typically sign a transaction slip. With chip and PIN, it is not as easy for hackers to attack and steal card data, says Colin Sheppard, Trustwave forensics practices manager. "Now, the U.S. is not a haven for attackers," says Sheppard. "But when more countries get chip and PIN, we will become more of a target."
