Quote:
Originally Posted by mreid
How many on here use the same password for multiple secure sites? Same for your gmail account as your online banking? You don't have to answer, but research shows many baby boomers do. These are the same people with the highest incomes. The same people using more and more handhelds and using Facebook and LinkedIn in increasing numbers. Is it just an inconvenience that your LinkedIn or Facebook password is stolen? How about that phishing email you receive later that looks legit and you feel better when it reminds you not to enter your password for security purposes, but they will need your bank account number? Couldn't be harmful, it's on all your checks right?
My point is that nothing is really safe and you/we can't expect business to protect us passed a certain point. Europe has had chip and pin in credit cards for almost ten years, why not us? In the UK, your credit card never leaves your sight. Why not here? Our head of security copied my credit card onto a hotel key in about 20 seconds as a demo using a handheld scanner. I later used it to get gas. Protect yourself, take advantage of credit monitoring and get new cards if you were possibly exposed. Take no chances! Be personally accountable!
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Mreid makes some good points, we can make some personal decisions that help protect out information but once it leaves our control, to make a purchase for example, we are at the mercy of the systems that are in place where these large breaches are taking place.
Yes, Europe and much of Asia use smart cards with encryption chips that make scanning and subsequent individual thefts much more difficult. The U.S. is the only large country that still uses magnetic stripes and that is why the thieves target (no pun intended) the U.S. in these types of thefts. Why is it so?
Because of the expense of converting the entire system to encryption technology. The entire infrastructure of the U.S. credit/debit/atm card system is based around this magnetic strip. Europe is way ahead. We have not taken more than a baby step in the chip-embedded technology. Think of it as changing over from gasoline as a fuel to fuel cells. Not only is our distribution system based around gasoline (refining, trucking, pipelines, stations and pumps), but the internal combustion engine and its ancillary support (auto repair shops, muffler shops, etc.)are as well. Changing to another fuel that require new infrastructure is very disruptive and is met with the inertia of the existing system.
Once your information is in the system, regardless if the cards chipped or not, the controllers of that system--the companies and the servers they employ--are responsible. The Target incident could very well have been a hack into their corporate servers. This is where the incentives should be aimed to keep these things secure. As mreid said, it is up to us to protect our information as best we can, and we must always assume that it may still be compromised by someone or some company further down the line.