Last fall, President Obama signed an Executive Order calling for federal agencies to begin implementing “chip and PIN” technology for government payment transactions. The implementation must be completed by April 2016.

In the meantime, Virginia has become the first state (actually, commonwealth) to adopt a similar measure. In May, Governor Terence McAuliffe signed an executive order entitled “Securing Consumer Transactions” directing the commonwealth’s agencies to provide a plan by October 1st detailing enhanced security features for credit and debit cards, including user authentication, confidentiality and data breach reporting and notification. The executive order also mandates that the commonwealth’s main purchase card program employ chip authentication technology by December.

In light of several high profile data breaches involving retailers, health organizations and governmental agencies, other states are likely to follow suit. Access the Virginia Governor’s directive here. Contact us at Ossian Law P.C. regarding any information technology law question.