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• DECEMBER 20, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
Why so many gas pumps still have less-secure credit card readers by Samantha Masunaga
If you use a credit or debit card to pay at the gas pump, keep an eye out for fraudulent charges: The card readers there tend to lack chip technology, and hackers are targeting them, card issuer Visa Inc. SecuriTy recently warned. Most U.S. retailers switched to chip-card readers long ago to meet an October 2015 deadline. But gas stations got extra time to upgrade, due in part to the infrastructure at the pumps. Their deadline isn’t until October 2020. Those old-style card readers are vulnerable, Visa said, citing a round of cyber attacks this year. In one case, a gas station was compromised by malware from a phishing email that was opened by an employee. Using a type of software called a RAM scraper,
the hackers harvested card data from the station’s payment terminals, according to a recent warning from Visa. Another incident that also involved a RAM scraper seemed to specifically target data from transactions at a gas station’s fuel pumps, where customers swiped their cards’ magnetic stripe, Visa said. Data from payments made inside the station, using a machine with a chip reader, were not targeted. Customers can avoid using their credit cards at the magnetic-stripe readers by paying cash or using a gas station payment app, consumer advocates said. Visa suggested that gas stations stiffen up their network security and train employees on how to avoid phishing scams. It also said converting fuel-pump card readers to chip technology would help thwart these attacks. With chip cards, no payment card data
are actually transferred during a sale. Rather, a unique code is transmitted that, if stolen, is no more useful than an expired password. Upgrading isn’t cheap. Adding a chip reader to a relatively new gas pump could cost $1,200, said Brian Riley, director of credit advisory services at Mercator Advisory Group, a payments industry analysis and consultancy firm. But gas stations do have reasons to make the change. Starting in October, if a fraudulent charge is made at a gas station card reader that still lacks chip technology, the gas station — not the credit card company — will have the responsibility of covering the charge. Cardholders should get their money back if they report fraud to the card issuer, but the gas station would then owe that money to the card issuer, said Ted Rossman, industry
mentors, Catrice M. Jackson. To choose, spend some time reflecting on a word that exemplifies what you’d like from 2020. This year I started at Thanksgiving time so I had several weeks for next year’s word to emerge. In terms of content, I have the best results when I choose a word that helps me overcome a challenge or advance to a higher level and that has some selflessness built in. After all, who doesn’t want to make the world a better place? For example, if you give up easily, a word like Determination or Persistence may inspire you. Then create more context with a shortlist of supplemental words that express related values. With a word like Determination, additional words like Compassion or Growth can mitigate any steamroller effect. Complete this activity by posting them in places where you’ll see them every day so they are top of mind. Another activity I’m planning for New Year’s Day is to create a vision poster for the year. To get ready for this, I’ll round up some old magazines so that I have a wide variety of images to pick from, plus poster board and glue sticks. This is a fun group activity, so involve your whole family or invite friends to join you. Without overthinking, go through the magazines and pull out pictures and phrases that appeal to you. It’s especially interesting to use publications you wouldn’t normally look at — try used bookstores or thrift stores to get a wide range. After you’ve got a nice pile, group them in ways that make sense to you. Let the structure emerge from the items you’ve selected. Then arrange them in a way that feels right to you. There’s no wrong way — some people like neat alignment, others create sprawling patterns. It’s finally time to consider the message from your poster. What do you see about your hopes, dreams, expectations or fears about 2020? How can that guide you as you make decisions? By the way, if you were struggling to find a word for the year, a vision poster might be just the thing to get you started. I’m also working on my learning list,
seeking out blogs and podcasts that broaden my perspectives. One major focus is to learn from African-American women, and I’m turning to Medium and Patreon for options. What do you care about? Find topics and sources that expand your mind! Now, maybe you’re wondering what my Word of the Year is. Drumroll please — my word is Service. I look forward to sharing where this takes me in 2020. And feel free to share yours — I’d love to hear! ©2019 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Some ideas to help you get ready for the new year by Liz Reyer
After writing a recent column about preparing for business success in 2020, I started thinking about the personal side of being ready for a new year. Let me take you inside the steps WorkplAce I’m taking this year. One of my favorite steps is to select a “Word of the Year” to guide my choices over the course of the year, a technique I learned from one of my
Buzz around fake meat Continued from preceding page. fire took out one of Tyson’s plants in August. The reduced capacity created a glut of live animals that drove down cattle prices. At the same time, beef buyers panicked at the prospect of shortfalls and started paying higher prices. Margins for beef processors touched record levels. In the U.S., beef processing is dominated by four large companies. Some producers, strained by the lower cattle prices, cried foul, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched an investigation to look for evidence of any unfair competitive practices. “Ultimately packer margins improved to where it made economic sense to run aggressively not just on weekdays but on Saturdays as well,” said Sands of MBS. “While beef margins have been very good, they were necessary to keep the industry from ending up with over-finished, out-of-condition fed cattle.” Pork processors are also benefiting from record-high margins. Ham exports surged with holiday seasons being celebrated around the world amid the swine-fever-induced shortages. At the same time, the U.S. is seeing huge production, driving down live-animal prices. Chicken is expected to be the main substitute for pork, and China recently lifted a 2015 ban on U.S. exports. “Renewed access to China will present significant opportunities for growth and value creation for our team members, our growers and our business,” Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. said in a statement to Bloomberg. (With assistance from Reg Gale.) ©2019 Bloomberg News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
analyst at CreditCards.com, a review and analysis site. If a gas station does not repay the charge, or if it generates a large number of chargebacks — repayments to a payer — then its contract with a card issuer could be revoked and it may no longer be able to accept that card, Riley said. Gas stations that don’t upgrade in time might choose to have all customers pay at the cash register at a single chip-card reader, he said. Chevron said Monday that it plans to have chip technology software available to its retailers by early 2020 and that it has already put software into production for half its sites. Phillips 66 said it already encrypts the data that come through its system and its stored data. ©2019 Los Angeles Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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