CDT – “For anyone that has traveled or lived abroad, you’ve probably noticed that most of the rest of the world has chips in their credit cards. These chips are soon coming to the United States (some are already here, and many retailers will have chip card readers in place by October 2015), and they are just one of the ways that payment security is being enhanced nationwide. This week, CDT hosted a session on Capitol Hill for Hill staffers that addressed the future of payment security. The event, which was supported by Visa, featured CDT’s Chief Technologist Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Kim Lawrence from Visa, and John Breyault from the National Consumers League. Kim kicked things off by discussing the EMV chip, which is the microprocessor that will soon be in all Visa cards. Some of these cards are already available to consumers, and she recommended getting in touch with your credit card provider to ask for one. Visa developed a handy fact sheet on the EMV chip and an infographic on how chips enhance security. The short of it: chips create unique, encrypted identifiers for each transaction you make with a card, instead of sharing your credit card details directly with the merchant. This makes chip-enabled cards nearly impossible to counterfeit, unlike the magnetic strip cards most of us currently have.”