What is EMV?
EMV stands for Europay Mastercard & Visa, it is a joint effort to ensure security for customers and interoperability between nations. Eighty countries globally are in various stages of EMV chip migration, including Canada and countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia. While the United States credit card industry has been operating mainly with magnetic strip technology for many years, the migration to EMV chips is inevitable.
Compliance deadlines
As part of their EMV migration roadmaps, Visa and MasterCard have established deadlines for counterfeit card fraud liability shifts for U.S. ATM acquirers.
In October 2016, MasterCard will shift counterfeit card fraud liability to ATM acquirers that don’t accept MasterCard-branded EMV cards at U.S. ATMs.
Visa will shift counterfeit card fraud liability to ATM acquirers in October 2017.
What Makes EMV Cards Different?
A layer of security is added with EMV chip equipped cards, it is fairly easy to reprogram magnetic strip cards with stolen consumer information. The new cards will still be donned with the magnetic strip so that they can be used with Non-EMV card readers but the micro-chip will give the card additional authentication when used with an EMV compliant card reader. Unfortunately EMV integration will not prevent ALL fraud, while these extra security measures are taken with in-store purchases - they will not protect data from online purchases.
When to Start Planning?
The time to start planning for EMV migration is now! According to Tom Driscoll, solutions manager at NCR, the process of migrating to EMV can take anywhere from 12 to 16 months. Waiting until the last minute to upgrade the hardware and software for your ATM portfolio could potentially be a VERY costly mistake.
Shortages of EMV card readers and resources for EMV testing and certification are to be expected as the deadline approaches.
How to Prepare?
Evaluate which ATMs in your fleet can be upgraded with field replacement conversion kits, which ATMs can be refurbished/upgraded by manufacturers, and which ATMs will need to be removed and replaced.
Determine how many kits and ATMs are required and over what time frame will this expense need to be budgeted. Resolve a systematic process of deploying, operating, maintaining, upgrading and disposing of assets cost-effectively.
Contact your processor to find out their EMV migration strategy, this is CRITICAL information when preparing for EMV.
Three Steps to EMV Migration
- ATMs must have EMV Level 1-compliant card readers installed and functioning.
- An EMV Level 2-compliant software kernel must be added to the ATM's application software.
- The acquirers ATM network must undergo end-to-end EMV hardware and software testing to receive EMV Level 3 certification from the card networks whose cards the acquirer wants to accept.
Why is EMV Safer?
EMV is designed to prevent card skimming and counterfeiting, the reason that having EMV chips on credit/debit cards is much safer than magnetic strips because it adds an extra layer of security/authenticity when purchasing items in store. Several layers of security technologies are in place to ensure safety and accuracy.