Visa Canada Chips Away At Fraud

The microchip is replacing the magnetic stripe in the latest move to combat $200 million in credit card frauds in Canada, says Gordon Jamieson, director of risk management and security with Visa Canada.

"To address skimming we’re responding with a chip card," Mr. Jamieson, a former RCMP officer, said in an interview in Halifax on Thursday.

"It’s your plastic card with an embedded microprocessor that has the ability to make decisions (and to) authorize transactions," he said of the new-generation cards, which are expected to be in wide circulation within the next few years.

"It’s able to protect the information because there are cryptographic keys that only the (card) issuer is able to communicate with. So your personal information is protected, whereas on a mag stripe, it’s accessible."