the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewod NJ, the New Jersey Department of Homeland Security has issued a new warning about the safety and security of gas station card readers that could change the way gas stations in the state deal with fraud and stolen card information.
According to the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell, most gas stations still use the old fashioned magnetic swipe reader, unlike most business which have chip readers. That leaves your information vulnerable to thieves, hackers and scammers.
In security alerts published by Visa, incidents involving malware at the pumps can give access to your card data to thieves. Swiping a debit card using a magnetic strip could send unencrypted payment information through the malware into the gas station’s network.
Thieves have also installed payment card skimmer attacks, small physical devices which can steal the same data right off the stripes.
Gas stations now have until next October 2020 to install chip readers, by then, the store will then be held liable for any payment card fraud.
In the meantime, the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell recommends paying for gas using cash or credit cards, not a debit card, and that station owners train their staff to look for skimming machines and make sure data from the cards is encrypted before sending over the network.
Cash is King
just use an oil company card. problem solved. id NEVER use my regular CC at a gas station since there have been many reports of attendants using ‘skimmers’ over the years