“LATE next year Americans, and foreign business travellers in America, can expect to see a big change at every retail establishment they visit: new chip-and-pin credit-card readers that require customers to enter a pin, rather than sign a receipt, to confirm a transaction. The readers will be paired with a new wave cards that include microchips, rather than the easier-to-copy magnetic strips that dominate in America today. Instead of transferring an entire credit card number during each transaction, the new cards will generate unique authorisation codes. The goal is to reduce fraud.”
Source: Chip-and-pin credit cards: Think of a number | The Economist
