Originally Posted by
kebosabi
Wouldn't Costco still be left vulnerable to remote hackings that can compromise cards, much as Target? Hackers don't need Costco membership cards and be physically present at a Costco to do their thing, they're probably somewhere in Russia.
If a hacker compromised Costco's terminals, and if Costco only has mag-stripe readers, then Costco will be on the hook for liability come October 2015. And if that happens, that's going to be a critical one-two punch of a huge PR disaster and fraud cost.
I think that Costco maybe reluctant because EMV's slowness counteracts with their performance reviews which are based on how fast cashiers can get through the line, but if Costco Canada or Costco Mexico can process EMV transactions, I don't see why not Costco USA can't.
While they're technically vulnerable, you still - with few exceptions - need a membership to purchase items at Costco. So even absent EMV they would know who is buying what and would be able to trace card present fraud back to a particular membership. I just don't think there is a great incentive for them to rush toward adopting EMV like an everyday merchant would.