ATMIA publishes best practices for preventing skimming
This month, the PCI Security Standards Council released requirements for prevention of skimming at Point of Sale devices.
“The ATM is exceptionally safe and convenient to use,” commented Mike Lee, CEO of ATMIA, “ but that doesn’t mean there are no threats. Skimming is the one we most need to counter.”
Skimming is the unauthorized capture of magnetic stripe information by modifying the hardware or software of a payment device, or through the use of a separate card reader. Skimming is often accompanied by the capture of customer PIN data.
“While ATM security has been steadily improving over the last decade thanks to standards the ATM Industry Association has been developing and publishing, there has also been in an increase global organized crime targeting ATMs for illicit gains,” explained Mike Urban, FICO’s Sr. Director, Fraud Solutions and a leading industry expert on skimming. “The Best Practices for Preventing Skimming is the next logical step in protecting consumers and resisting organized criminals.”
One of the authors of the new manual, Douglas Russell, Director of DFR Risk Management Ltd, has compiled its international classification system of skimming devices and methods in order to give the worldwide industry a tool for understanding the range of types of attack and how to combat them.
Lee believes more can be done in terms of educating customers to protect their PINs by covering the hand used to key in the PIN at the ATM, in order to help prevent illegal PIN capture. This simple measure alone would significantly reduce the success rate of skimming attacks.
“Educating the customer on detection and prevention is a critical component to reducing the global threat of ATM skimming,” Jeffery Miller of Edge One Incorporated, another contributing author, said.
About ATMIA
The ATM Industry Association is a global non-profit trade association with over 1,300 members in about 50 countries. Its mission is to promote ATM convenience, growth and usage worldwide, protect the ATM industry's assets, interests, good name and public trust; and provide education, best practices, political voice and networking opportunities for member organizations. In June 2003, ATMIA established the Global ATM Security Alliance (GASA) (www.globalasa.com) with the mission to employ global security resources in a united alliance in order to protect the ATM industry from criminal activity.
