Obama orders chip-and-PIN in government credit cards

President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Friday to have secure chip-and-PIN technology embedded into government-issued credit and debit cards as part of a broader move aimed at stemming payment data breaches.

Under the order, government-issued cards that transmit federal benefits such as Social Security will have microchips embedded instead of the usual magnetic strips, as well as associated PINs like those typically used for consumer debit cards. A replacement program for the cards is set to begin on Jan. 1 of next year, with the goal to have more than 1 million such cards issued by the end of the year, Obama said at the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a press release.

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