News

European ATM Security Team announces expanded mission, new name

June 9, 2017

The European ATM Security Team is changing its name to the European Association for Secure Transactions in line with a new strategic direction for the organization, according to a press release.

EAST was formed in 2004 — a time when card skimming at ATMs was a growing issue in Europe. The payment landscape has changed significantly since then, however, and continues to evolve at great speed, EAST said.

Under its new name, EAST will report on ATM crime issues as part of a wider reporting structure, which will be broadly split into terminal security and payment security.

The EAST expert group on all terminal fraud will continue to focus on fraud at all terminal types, while the EAST payments task force will focus on the security of payments and transactions.

The EAST expert group on ATM and ATS physical attacks will remain primarily ATM-focused as it works to counter the growing threat of solid explosive and explosive gas attacks.

EAST membership currently includes 26 SEPA nations and 10 non-SEPA nations (see graphic). The organization seeks to establish links with any country able to share national incident and loss statistics for terminal-related fraud and physical attacks, the release said.