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Revised best practices guide counters ATM skimming scourge

May 4, 2016

The ATM Industry Association has published an updated manual of best practices for the prevention of skimming and card data compromise at ATMs.

Version 2 of the publication follows a recent FICO report that ATM skimming in the U.S. increased more than 500 percent between 2014 and 2015.

The organization is urging its members, especially those in the U.S., to study the updated manual and implement its recommendations in order to stop a rising tide of skimming fraud as America moves toward EMV compliance.

"Global EMV migration takes time and until all payment cards have an EMV chip, the magnetic stripe is likely to remain for interoperability reasons," said Claire Shufflebotham, global security director at TMD Security and a contributor to the report. "In the meantime, fraud is a moving target. … This ATMIA best practice guide provides ATM deployers with helpful insight into fraud trends and available countermeasures to consider as part of a risk management strategy."

Shufflebotham cited statistics from the European ATM Security Team showing a 16 percent increase in skimming losses worldwide in 2015. The global cost of ATM skimming comes to more than $2 billion annually. The average incident today results in a loss of $88,000, up 57 percent from just one year ago.

The ATM industry has made significant advances in anti-skimming technology, but organized crime gangs continue to adopt increasingly sophisticated tools and techniques for skimming, according to Douglas Russell, founder of DFR Risk Management Ltd. and the author and editor of the manual.

The updated manual addresses a changing threat landscape, Russell said.

"Version 2 of the guide … highlights the key emerging threats such as eavesdropping, network packet data sniffing, [and] deep insert and throat inlay skimming, and identifies best practices that can be applied to reduce the risk from such attacks," he said.

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ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)

The ATM Industry Association, founded in 1997, is a global non-profit trade association with over 10,500 members in 65 countries. The membership base covers the full range of this worldwide industry comprising over 2.2 million installed ATMs.

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