There's an October deadline to get microchip-enabled credit cards into the hands of all U.S. cardholders, but a new survey suggests the industry is lagging in its attempt to reach the new standard.

card chip
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According to Creditcards.com, just three out of every 10 U.S. cardholders have been equipped with a chip card, meant to replace the current magnetic strip design.

"While the credit card industry needs to churn out a lot more chip cards, retailers seem to be in worse shape," said Matt Schulz, CreditCard.com's senior industry analyst, in a press release. "Very few are ready to accept chip cards."

Under the credit card industry's rules, retailers who don't upgrade their systems to accept the state-of-the-art microchips by October 2015 will be solely responsible for costs related to fraud. Card issuers have historically been the ones held accountable.

The EMV standards - named for Europay, Mastercard and Visa - are said to provide a more secure shopping experience compared to the outdated magnetic strips that many countries have already done away with.

"Chip technology is much more sophisticated, harder to counterfeit and harder to replicate," said Adam Levin, co-founder of Identity Theft 911. "It also creates a unique code for each transaction."

Levin suggested retailers have been slow to adapt to the new system due to cost concerns, but when they compare the potential liability they face from a massive hack, switching over should be an easy decision to make.

The new system is not fraud-proof, however. While the chips can virtually eliminate the threat during in-store purchases, they don't have the same power when a card is used over the Web. If online purchases are made and a company's database is hacked, consumers' information is still up for grabs.

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