News

Skinny new skimmer works inside the ATM

July 24, 2012

ATM skimming operators may be bad people, but they're good at what they do. And they're getting better at it all the time.

A recent posting at Krebs on Security reports that skimmers have now developed a "wafer-thin" card reader (Krebs includes several pictures of the device) that can be inserted directly into an ATM card slot, where it goes to work collecting and relaying card numbers to crooks. Meanwhile a separate device, such as a camera or key overlay, records PIN numbers.

The Krebs intelligence comes from EAST, the European ATM Security Team, which compiles data on ATM crime. The data is provided by representatives from 22 countries on the continent. EAST was alerted to the new skimmer by one of its reporting countries, which it does not identify in its report. 

For more on this topic, visit the security research center.