Between November 27 and December 15, 2013, the USA retail giant Target stores confirmed that “a massive data violation”¹ involving up to 40 million credit card accounts. ¹  The breach involved the theft of information from the magnetic strip on the credit cards of shoppers at Target across the USA. The Kim Komando website reported the actual number of credit card accounts compromised numbered 70 million. ²

        Magnetic strips were invented during World War Two and first used on credit cards in 1970 by IBM ³. When it was invented, it was revolutionary!  It allowed users to carry credit card information on a strip so thin that it could be adhered to the back of a credit card.  The reader that could access the information with a swipe was state of the art in the 1970’s and 1980’s. 

Compare any other area of financial security today that is still using technology developed during world war two and perfected in 1970?  Imagine an anti-virus program that only protects against the viruses developed prior to 1990.  Or a Firewall program that couldn’t stop intrusions created after 2000.  Someone using software that was so outdated in today’s world would know it was a matter of time before hackers would access the computer and compromise the information on the computer.  We are using the technology of cassette tapes and eight-track players to protect our credit cards in 2014. READ MORE