Join the #EMVtalk Twitter Chat on New Chip Cards!

Is your small business ready for the new EMV chip cards? It should be. EMV cards are designed to help control fraud and protect card issuers, businesses, and consumers from loss.

Here’s a little known statistic, but a sobering one: A shocking 90 percent of data breaches happen at the small business level. And if that’s isn’t enough, here’s another: Of the small businesses hit with data breaches, approximately two-thirds go out of business within six months of the attack.

Some of those data breaches happen through credit card fraud. But the new EMV chip card employs the latest available technology to prevent this.

How?

Well, EMVs contain a special data chip that will tell your point-of-sale device whether a particular card is valid.

But more than that, by checking a PIN number entered by the consumer while using the card, businesses will be able to tell whether the card actually belongs to the person using it.

Not only will the new EMV keep your business safe, soon it will be mandatory. That’s right. Starting October 2015, if a small business owner does not have an EMV standard point of sale device and a card user is a victim of fraud, the small business owner will bear the liability.

Fortunately, there’s a way to learn all you need to know about EMVs. Join Small Business Trends CEO Anita Campbell and First Data on April 28 at 7 p.m. EDT under the hashtag #EMVtalk for a Twitter chat on the topic of “EMV 101: What You Need to Know About Chip Cards.”

The tweet chat will look at what small business owners need to know about the new EMV chip card and what to do to prepare.