In less than 18 months, security on U.S. credit cards is scheduled to finally exceed the level used in Mongolia and Papua New Guinea. The plan: The U.S. will abandon using just an archaic magnetic strip technology for security, and put a computer chip in every one of the U.S.’s 1.2 billion credit and debit cards. Oh, and upgrade card readers at the country’s 8 million sales counters. It’s a huge change that many consumers aren’t even aware is in the works. Card payment networks such as Visa and Mastercard set the deadline of October 2015. And already, banks and retailers are way behind on meeting it. Just 1.5 percent of cards and 10 percent of sales terminals are ready, according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research, even as pressure has mounted thanks to large card data breaches at Targetand other retailers. Target ousted its chief executive officer this week.