Home Depot: Credit card firms slow to upgrade security
ATLANTA - The Home Depot Inc. (HD) says in a new federal lawsuit that Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) are using security measures prone to fraud, putting it and other retailers at risk of hacking attacks by cyber thieves.
Atlanta-based Home Depot filed the lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
Representatives of Visa and MasterCard didn't immediately return calls and emails seeking comment early Wednesday.
Home Depot says new payment cards with so-called "chip" technology, rolled out in the U.S. in recent years, remain less secure than cards used in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
The retailer says that even with chips, U.S. cards still rely on customers' hand-written signatures for verification, rather than more secure Personal Identification Numbers, or PINs.
The home improvement store chain says Visa and MasterCard are conspiring to prevent adoption of more secure technology.