Technology moves forward every day, but one of the latest advances carries big implications for banks, retailers and consumers.

In this case, the technology involves purchases made with credit or debit cards via card readers. Encoded chips are being embedded in newly issued cards, which are designed to improve security by replacing the magnetic strip that was more susceptible to hacking.

With the new cards, original authentication codes are transmitted for each transaction, making them more difficult to reproduce. With magnetic strips, the codes for each transaction are permanent and the same for each customer, allowing for duplication by criminals.

Banks have been preparing for years for the transition to the cards, which already have been in use for years in Europe. In fact, the new system is known as EMV — shorthand for Europay MasterCard Visa. Some retailers have prepared, too, installing at checkout sites new card readers that require buyers to slide the cards into a reader rather than swiping the magnetic strip, as they have done for years.

Banks set an Oct. 1 deadline for retailers to have the new readers in place, but many businesses missed the deadline. That means little to consumers. However, retailers could be held liable for losses due to fraud after the deadline rather than banks absorbing the blow, provided the bank has issued a chip-embedded card. If the fraud is due to a magnetic strip card, the bank could be liable.

Not all consumers will receive updated cards quickly. Banks are rolling out the cards in waves, and the transition is expected to take years to complete.

If you're wondering whether the losses to cybercrime are worth the time and effort to undertake the drastic changes, consider this: Cybercrime is estimated to cost the U.S. economy more than $100 billion annually and the international economy more than $300 billion every year.

Retail giants Target and Walmart acknowledged the significance of the need for the change, getting ahead of the curve by replacing card readers — which can cost $600 to $2,000 each — at their outlets. Best Buy also was planning to have the majority of its locations updated in time for the changeover. The commitment makes sense for Target, which was the subject of an expansive and costly data breach in 2013.

The call is not so easy for smaller retailers. Small businesses are faced with the debate of whether the costs to upgrade to the new card readers outweigh the liability for losses.

The changeover will slow consumers slightly. The card must sit in the reader longer than the traditional swipe would take. And varying quality of card readers will affect the speed of transactions.

However, the transactions will not require PINs, although the industry is divided on whether that's a good point. Cards with magnetic strips still can be processed by the new readers, and new cards will be usable at locations that have not upgraded their readers.

One potential drawback that was noticed in Europe is that online fraud rose with the use of EMVs. The same is anticipated in the United States. The chip protects data only in point-of-sale purchases.

As with many elements of new technology, criminals have quickly devised a way to pounce on unsuspecting consumers. Within days of the deadline, a scam emerged in which criminals posing as banks sent emails requesting personal account information from consumers in order to "update" their accounts.