Lessons Learned in Target’s Anti-Theft Card Trial

Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel is calling on retailers and banks to adopt chip-based credit card technology to better protect shoppers. But the debate was different a decade ago, when the executive was on the other side of the issue as Target pulled the plug on a $40 million, three-year program that did just that. Chip-based credit cards, in which a smart chip in the card works with special readers installed at stores, are widely used in Europe and Canada, making it more difficult for thieves to profit from the sort of massive data breach that hit Target over the holidays.