Page 92 - Security Today, September 2017

Cash
in Hand
Three ways to protect off-premises ATMs BIy Daniel Caggiula
f your bank, credit union or non-bank organization operates ATMs in remote locations, such as convenience stores or shopping malls, a bank heist that occurred in Japan last year probably
caught your attention.
According to news reports, fraudsters
used 1,600 fake cards to withdraw money from multiple ATMs belonging to the same South African bank. In just a few hours, the coordinated attack—focused on ATMs in convenience stores—drained the bank of more than $13 million.
While the magnitude of this fraud is rare, it should give ATM operators pause to con- sider the level of security they have in place around their off-premises ATMs.
Off-premises ATMs can be easy targets for thieves because they often don’t have the same level of security or surveillance that financial institutions have in their own branches.
Also, as ATM operators continue the transition to EMV or “chip” technology for bank cards, experts warn that self-serve ATMs and gas pumps are becoming more of a target for thieves. That’s because criminals are rushing to make a buck while magnetic strip cards, seen as less secure, are still being accepted by these channels.
According to credit scoring agen- cy FICO, from 2015 to 2016, the number of payment cards compromised at U.S. ATMs or point-of-sale systems rose by 70 percent. Further, a full 60 percent of those compro- mises occurred at non-bank ATMs, follow- ing a similar pattern noted the previous year. In a recent report about ATM skimming, the agency said criminal activity was high- est in places like convenience stores.
So what can banks, credit unions and non-bank operators do to better protect their ATMs and their customers? Taking a multi-layered approach to security is best.
Regularly Inspect Your ATMs
Operators should regularly inspect all of their off-premises ATMs. Are they function- ing properly? Do they appear to have been tampered with? Are they located in well lit, high traffic areas?
It sounds simple, but taking the time to ensure that all of your remote ATMs are in-
spected in person can help prevent issues and detect suspicious activity sooner.
Deploy High-Quality Video Surveillance
Ensure you have adequate video surveillance in place. This means surveillance cameras cap- turing the ATM machine and its surroundings, but also ATM cameras inside the machines that capture clear views of patrons’ faces.
One recommendation is to use an ATM camera with High Dynamic Range (HDR), a feature that merges multiple exposures into one image with the best balance of lighting possible. This capability can be invaluable in ATM settings where patrons’ faces are often backlit with bright sunlight.
Proper video surveillance not only helps address crimes like skimming and card trap- ping, but it can also help deter other types of fraud, such as the depositing of empty enve- lopes or counterfeit checks.
Use Integrated Video, Transaction Data and Analytics
Regularly monitoring transaction data for
ATM Facts at a Glance
suspicious activity is essential to thwart- ing ATM fraud like skimming or “cash- outs,” where thieves drain the ATM of large amounts of cash through nefarious means.
By deploying a video surveillance solu- tion that’s integrated with ATM transaction data and intelligent analytics, you can very quickly detect potentially fraudulent trans- actions, or even just suspicious activity, like loitering around machines.
Integrated video solutions allow you to very rapidly sort through all of your transac- tions and find irregular activity, such as the same person making multiple transactions with different cards or someone standing in front of an ATM for a period of time with- out making a transaction (a possible sign of someone installing a skimming device).
By configuring alerts, the system can au- tomatically notify you
when it detects this type
of activity.
Daniel Caggiula is the market product solutions manager, banking at March Networks.
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• There are approximately 3 million ATMs installed worldwide
• An estimated 425,000 ATMs are installed in the U.S. alone
• 280 new ATMs are installed each day worldwide
• U.S. ATM withdrawals totaled $691 billion in 2015, up 4 percent from the previous year, according
to RBR
• The average number of times a person visits an ATM per month: 7.4
• 48 percent of U.S. ATMs are owned by financial institutions; 52 percent are owned by independent
deployers
• Skimming remains the biggest fraud cost to the global ATM industry annually, with estimated
losses well in excess of $2 billion
Source: ATM Marketplace, June 2017 (unless otherwise cited)
BANKING SECURITY