Protection Against Data Breaches

October 7, 2014

I was among the thousands of Goldenwest members who were notified last month that my personal Visa card information may have been compromised as a result of making a purchase at Home Depot. More than 56 million credit and debit card customers have been affected by this massive data breach.

As consumers, we can’t stop data breaches from happening at our favorite retailers. However, we can take protective measures to guard our personal financial information against thieves.

Sign for Visa card purchases. Select the “credit” option at the check-out keypad, or ask the cashier to do it for you. By using your signature to authorize a transaction, you reduce the chances of hackers stealing the PIN associated with your Visa card.

Be diligent in monitoring your accounts for unauthorized transactions. You can easily review account history 24/7 with Goldenwest’s free online and mobile platforms. Set-up account alerts that will text and/or email you when funds are withdrawn from your account.

Have a valid email address on file with the credit union. Emails are the quickest and most efficient way to notify you of the potential threat to your Visa card information. Phone numbers and mailing addresses are important, but when we’re attempting to warn hundreds or thousands of members of a security breach, we first send the alerts via email.

In spring 2015, we will begin issuing Visa cards with EMV technology. Providing additional security to our members, EMV payment cards (named after original developers EuroPay, MasterCard, Visa) are more commonly known as “chip” cards. The chips embedded inside the EMV cards store and protect data in a much more secure manner than the magnetic strips currently found on payment cards.

We look forward to offering Apple Pay to our members. We are eagerly awaiting a date in the not-so-distant future that ApplePay will be available to Goldenwest Visa cardholders. We will keep you posted with updates regarding Goldenwest’s access to Apple Pay as we receive them.

In other credit union news, congratulations to Randy Ferlin who is our employee of the month. Randy is a long-time, experienced team member who consistently provides stellar member service at our South Ogden branch located in the corporate office.

Thanks again for your support and loyalty to Goldenwest Credit Union. I look forward to your comments on this blog post or to my email at president@gwcu.org. For the latest credit union news and some of my favorite motivational quotes, I invite you to follow me on Twitter @GoldenwestCUCEO.