October 18, 2011 at 12:59Chip vs magnet
Hi Habramir!
You won’t surprise anyone with a bank card for a long time - it has ceased to be an indicator of “steepness” and now almost everyone has it. But few people know that in its development it has come a long way. Having appeared in 1914 in the form of self-made cardboard from Mobil Oil and passing through the jungle of evolution through metal plates with embossed letters and symbols, modern plastic cards have become an indispensable attribute of everyday life for most of us.
But the possibility is not excluded that cards with a magnetic strip will soon become nothing more than an anachronism as a relic of the past. Who, if not you, habralyudi, should know that technology does not stand still, chip cards are already gaining popularity.
Russian banks now release only combination cards (combining both a magnetic strip and a chip). This is due, as usual, to the underdeveloped infrastructure: not all devices in our country are able to read information from the chip. But this problem is being solved: payment systems are pushing banks in every way to switch to cards with chips.
It must be said right away that the design and maintenance of a chip card for a client, as a rule, is no more expensive than cards with a magnetic strip. Although for the bank this, of course, is more expensive.
The main advantage of chip cards over magnetic stripe cards is increased security. If the information is encrypted in a magnetic strip, it is not difficult for fraudsters to copy it and make a duplicate card. It is almost impossible to read information from the chip, and even if it is possible, this is a completely useless task. Here's the thing. If fraudsters read the information from the magnetic strip of your card and conducted the operation through a terminal that does not read the chip, but operates on a magnetic strip, you can appeal this operation through your issuing bank (the bank that issued your card). Of course, you will receive a refund only if the investigation of the bank proves that you are really a victim, and not a swindler who tried to deceive the bank.
Another plus of chip cards is the ability to write additional applications to the chip (fuel, transport and others). This is very convenient - such a card can be used not only for cashless payments, but also get different “buns” from its use. In Europe, cards with contactless chips (NFC technology) are also gaining momentum. With their help, you can pay for goods and services by simply bringing the card to a special terminal.You and I can only believe and wait for progress to reach us. But we don’t get used to it ... Soon, these technologies will become available to us.
It would be dishonest to tell you about the "pluses" of chip cards and keep silent about the "minuses". The chip card cannot protect you from fraud when making transactions on the Internet. Therefore, it is better to have a virtual card for these purposes. Also, when dealing with a chip card, be prepared for a longer wait for a terminal transaction or manually enter a PIN code, which not all of us always remember. But these are such trifles - safety is above all!
By the way, if you unobtrusively arrive in France with a magnetic stripe card, you will have to try very hard (maybe take a couple of “extra” walking tours of the city) to find an ATM where you can withdraw cash, or a store (cafe, restaurant, hairdresser ), where it will be possible to pay her. France is the first country to switch to chip cards almost completely, and it is already very difficult to find a device that accepts magnetic stripe cards there. In Russia, on the contrary, it is bad for foreigners with chip cards - we do not yet have the appropriate infrastructure for their service.
You won’t surprise anyone with a bank card for a long time - it has ceased to be an indicator of “steepness” and now almost everyone has it. But few people know that in its development it has come a long way. Having appeared in 1914 in the form of self-made cardboard from Mobil Oil and passing through the jungle of evolution through metal plates with embossed letters and symbols, modern plastic cards have become an indispensable attribute of everyday life for most of us.
But the possibility is not excluded that cards with a magnetic strip will soon become nothing more than an anachronism as a relic of the past. Who, if not you, habralyudi, should know that technology does not stand still, chip cards are already gaining popularity.
Russian banks now release only combination cards (combining both a magnetic strip and a chip). This is due, as usual, to the underdeveloped infrastructure: not all devices in our country are able to read information from the chip. But this problem is being solved: payment systems are pushing banks in every way to switch to cards with chips.
It must be said right away that the design and maintenance of a chip card for a client, as a rule, is no more expensive than cards with a magnetic strip. Although for the bank this, of course, is more expensive.
The main advantage of chip cards over magnetic stripe cards is increased security. If the information is encrypted in a magnetic strip, it is not difficult for fraudsters to copy it and make a duplicate card. It is almost impossible to read information from the chip, and even if it is possible, this is a completely useless task. Here's the thing. If fraudsters read the information from the magnetic strip of your card and conducted the operation through a terminal that does not read the chip, but operates on a magnetic strip, you can appeal this operation through your issuing bank (the bank that issued your card). Of course, you will receive a refund only if the investigation of the bank proves that you are really a victim, and not a swindler who tried to deceive the bank.
Another plus of chip cards is the ability to write additional applications to the chip (fuel, transport and others). This is very convenient - such a card can be used not only for cashless payments, but also get different “buns” from its use. In Europe, cards with contactless chips (NFC technology) are also gaining momentum. With their help, you can pay for goods and services by simply bringing the card to a special terminal.
It would be dishonest to tell you about the "pluses" of chip cards and keep silent about the "minuses". The chip card cannot protect you from fraud when making transactions on the Internet. Therefore, it is better to have a virtual card for these purposes. Also, when dealing with a chip card, be prepared for a longer wait for a terminal transaction or manually enter a PIN code, which not all of us always remember. But these are such trifles - safety is above all!
By the way, if you unobtrusively arrive in France with a magnetic stripe card, you will have to try very hard (maybe take a couple of “extra” walking tours of the city) to find an ATM where you can withdraw cash, or a store (cafe, restaurant, hairdresser ), where it will be possible to pay her. France is the first country to switch to chip cards almost completely, and it is already very difficult to find a device that accepts magnetic stripe cards there. In Russia, on the contrary, it is bad for foreigners with chip cards - we do not yet have the appropriate infrastructure for their service.