Understanding EMV Payment Card Technology

Updating payment equipment by companies to chip cards with embedded microchips has added a level of security to businesses and their customers. Fraudulent transaction risk has significantly reduced due to chip card technology. Implementing point-to-point encryption reduces payment card fraud from counterfeit cards. The liability shift from financial institutions favors applying EMV technology to great effects.

The only challenge which companies are facing is putting in place EMV systems that bond seamlessly with their specific EMV hardware.

What is EMV?

EuroPay, MasterCard, Visa (EMV) is a form of payment that bonds plastic cards with microchips. EMV cards, unlike normal credit cards, generate a particular code for every transaction its user makes. The issuing bank shares the code to ensure it is legitimate. The microchip codes generated cannot be replicated, thus ensuring security against creating counterfeit cards by thieves.

Why Create an EMV Card?

To curb hackers from stealing and selling credit card information that creates counterfeit cards, EMV was developed. Creating a card that generates random codes for every transaction ensures a minimal chance for counterfeit cards. The challenge, however, is that EMV cards are only helpful where a card can be inserted or swiped into a point of sale. Tokenization and point-to-point encryption eliminate card data breaches.

What Entails EMV Compliance?

EMV compliance requires installing point-of-sale terminals that are EMV-enabled and certified by a particular bank and ensuring that payment application is EMV certified for every card network. Depending on the user’s application of EMV compliance, the terminal cost ranges significantly. Users ensure these terminals are installed with the EMV-compliant software.

What are EMV Security Weaknesses?

EMV cards are only applied where payment cards can be used in a point of sale. Online transactions that are highly fraudulent are not protected. Payment card security experts have concluded that hackers can still access unencrypted payment information from personal account numbers by removing the codes generated. EMV reduces fraud while point-to-point encryption eliminates fraud.

Companies that use debit and credit cards as a form of payment should consider becoming EMV compliant to significantly reduce fraud while also providing other benefits to a company such as the liability shift. Contact us now for more information.