All the recent problems with security of consumers' personal information — from the hacking at Target to the Heartbleed bug — may have you worried about where it's safe to use your credit and debit cards.

Kim Komando, host of the Kim Komando Show, the nation's largest weekend radio talk show, cites three places where you're best off sticking to cash:

1. Gas stations

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Criminals can install card skimmers at pumps that record your card data, she writes in a column for USA Today. Sometimes the skimmers have Bluetooth, which lets the bad guys pilfer your data with a wireless device.

2. Restaurants

Thieving waiters and waitresses can utilize handheld skimmers to get your card data. Or they can just write down your card number.

3. Stores

The risks are similar to restaurants. Data robbers are attracted by the large flow of customers.

If you have to use plastic, deploy a credit card rather than a debit card, Komando argues. It's easier to challenge a charge on a credit card than a debit card.

And you're only responsible for the first $50 of fraudulent spending on your credit card. With a debit card, fraudulent spending must be reported within a few business days to trigger the $50 limit.

Meanwhile, the recent thefts of customers' personal data have hastened the credit card industry's shift to smart chips from magnetic stripes.

Credit card fraud reached almost $5.3 billion in the United States during 2012, according to the Aite Group research firm, The New York Times reports.

"I think this will become a defining moment about how we in the industry think about security," Eileen Serra, CEO of Chase Card Services, tells the paper.

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