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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is joining the push to protect Americans from identity theft and fraud.
President Obama signed an executive order last month to strengthen security on federally issued credit cards and government payment systems.
The order requires government agencies and offices to upgrade the technologies they use to protect consumer data. Obama also called on Congress to pass legislation that would replace existing data security laws with “one clear national standard that brings certainty to businesses and keeps consumers safe.”
With theft of shoppers’ payment-card data by cybercriminals becoming an almost weekly occurrence, retail heavyweights such as Target Corp. and Home Depot Inc. are pushing to make the more secure “chip and PIN” technology as ubiquitous in the United States as it is in other parts of the world.
Credit card companies have set an October 2015 deadline for retailers to implement the technology at their stores. Both Target and Home Depot, whose networks were compromised in two of the biggest retail data breaches to date, say they expect to have chip and PIN systems in their stores by year’s end.
Meanwhile, some of the nation’s biggest retailers, including Walmart and CVS Health, have created the Merchant Customer Exchange consortium and its CurrentC app as a rival payment system, expected to launch next year. The app doesn’t read credit card information, tapping into the customer’s checking account instead.
