NEVER use a physical card

Never use a physical card over a digital one. As a Cybersecurity expert, here's why my actual card never leaves and why I only use Apple Pay. Your physical credit card has two major and most people don't even know the second one. Hi, I'm Caitlin. I'm a cybersecurity and data protection expert and I want to help you when it comes to your credit cards. Let's go. The first threat is physical. Every time you hand your card to a waiter, swipe it out at a pump or tap a terminal, you're exposing your actual credit card, your expiration and your CVV. All it takes is a credit card skimming device, you losing your actual card, or even someone taking a quick photo. They do that, your physical data is stolen. And this is the one people miss. Every time you pay with a physical card, you're giving that third party your full information. But what happens if that third party gets a data breach? And according to Security Scorecard, over 35% of all breaches in 2024 were based off of third party data breaches. Meaning the store you shopped at and your credit card go straight to the hacker. This is exactly why I use Apple Pay or another digital wallet. Because with Apple Pay or digital wallet, your real card number is never actually used. Not one time. Apple Pay generates a unique one-time token for every single transaction. The store never actually sees your actual card number and Apple doesn't store it. So even if the retail gets breached, there's nothing tied back to you. And on top of that, every purchase, your Face ID and Touch ID. So if your phone ever gets stolen, no one can make a single purchase without your fingerprint or your Face ID. For more simple cybersecurity tips, follow along. Share this with a friend who swipes their card all the time because they seriously need to see this. Stay safe.