We Are All PIN-Heads, If You Believe The Bankers

After a series of ever more serious data breaches, and millions of identities stolen, the banking industry promised to introduce credit cards with advanced security features this year.

Just Another Fantasy. Turns out that instead of introducing ‘Chip and PIN’, they are going with ‘Chip and Signature’.

Which may sound equally secure, but is in fact, a real meh.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal,

Big U.S. banks are steering clear of an advanced security measure used in credit cards around the world, opting for a system that is more convenient for shoppers but may leave them vulnerable to fraud.

This year, firms ranging from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to Discover Financial Services Inc. are expected to roll out more than a half-billion new credit cards embedded with computer chips that create a unique code for each transaction, making counterfeiting much more difficult.

In a retreat for the industry, however, the new cards don’t use some technology that could prevent fraud if a card is lost or stolen.

Why would they hold off introducing the new technology that’s been used for years throughout the rest of the world?

“There is a lot of concern that PINs would create customer-service issues for consumers and merchants if a consumer can’t complete a transaction because they have forgotten the PIN,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, an industry group representing banks and credit-card companies.

Extensive consumer research has revealed that we, as a nation, can’t remember another 4 digit PIN.

No PIN Required

Actually I’m not surprised.

But wait, rumor has it that unlike the banks, Target will go ahead with a real ‘Chip and PIN’ card, after their hacking fiasco of Christmas 2013.

So… who’s your Daddy now?