News

Lock ATMs and throw away the keys

October 27, 2004

Let's face it. Local ATM managers have a job to do and they want to do that job as swiftly as possible. Unfortunately, their time-saving measures too often compromise safety and security procedures.

"Local managers are notorious for disabling time delay and time lock functions because they don't want to wait for the delay," says Orlando Consalvi, national product manager for LA GARD, a division of Computerized Security Systems which manufactures and distributes safe locks for the medium- and high-security safe and vault industry.

Consalvi says that it's usually only after a security breach that bypass techniques are discovered. By moving security controls out of the hands of the manager and into a remote central server, all ATM locations abide by the same standards.

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A Web-based security management system, LA GARD's NAVIGATOR centralizes control of ATMs, kiosks and similar containers. A smart phone or a PDA with WI-FI capability loaded with NAVIGATOR software eliminates the need for keys to access the ATM.

A cable from the serial port in the smart phone to the side of the lock's keypad allows Web communication from the central server to the ATM. Once connected and validated through a Login password and PIN, the server can read the data on the smart phone, unlock the safe, program the safe and relock it. This is all done in real time.

Consalvi says, "By housing all data at the server, NAVIGATOR keeps local, regional, national and global accounts on the same security procedures. All permissions are set at the administration software module and uploaded to the server. Audit records are stored at the server level, making remote retrieval simple. And local managers can no longer usurp security policies."

NAVIGATOR consists of three software modules: central command server software, administration software and the smart phone or PDA software. The server module runs on Windows, UNIX or Linux operating systems. The administration module allows the administrator to monitor all of the locks by site and location. The administrator can add or delete users, customers, sites and ATMs. The software loaded on the smart phone transmits all information with the same 128-bit encryption used by most financial companies.

Even with encryption and the benefit of centralized control over the locks, what if there's no wireless access or the central server goes down? If no cell phone coverage is available, the manager uses a land line to call the administrator, who issues a manual code.

LA GARD recommends a RAID 1 server configuration. With this configuration, two SCSI drives of the same size connect to a RAID controller card, and the computer sees them as one drive. All data is written to both drives, so if a problem occurs in the first drive the second automatically takes over.

LA GARD is the only company that offers a centralized, Web-based information system. As security concerns continue to prevail, companies should consider reducing the points of exposure by putting ATM controls into the right hands.