Criminals Copy Debit Cards Via Stereo Skimming

The past quarter have criminals in a European country copied via stereo skimming debit cards, reports the European ATM Security Team (EAST), an organization that maps fraud with payment terminals. EAST receives data from a large number of countries.

It is the first time that the organization receives notification to stereo-skimming successfully applied. In traditional skimming criminals copy the magnetic stripe of a debit card through a cross mouth placed on the ATM. In order to prevent skimming anti-skimming devices are used that emit a "jamming signal". In stereo skimming there are two headlines that read information from the magnetic strip and store it via audio technology. The first reading head strikes the jamming signal and map data, while the second read head only stores the jamming signal. Due to the one of the other subtracting remain on the map data.

Thanks to MP3 technology, this method would again make a comeback, according to InformationWeek. The technique in the past, has been used once before. In 2013 a simple stereo-skimming device was an Irish ATM discovered. In late September of this year reported security TMD Security that it had found new stereo-skimming technology in Ireland. The device would be based on existing stereo-skimming technology, but use sophisticated new technologies allowing the jamming signal be neutralized.

EAST late in the present report do not know to which country it is where the message came from, but Ireland is one of the countries that provide data to the organization. However, it still seems to be a novelty, since 17 countries reported the traditional skimming of debit cards. Also made ​​one country reported criminals who had downloaded via malware money from an ATM, and also became a 'black box attack reports', where criminals connect a personal device on the ATM and the machine so give commands to money through the issuance channel off to give.

Criminals Use Malware To Empty ATMs

In the first months of this year, criminals in four European countries malware used to empty the contents of ATMs. These are so-called 'cash out' or 'jackpot ting' attacks, reports the European ATM Security Team (EAST) in a new report ( pdf ).

Which countries will be concerned and how many do not know when the attack was captured late EAST. Malware to empty with ATMs is not new and was last year for the first time in Western Europe discovered . Criminals with physical access to the machine and then install the malware via a USB connection or CD-ROM. Through the malware and entering a special key combination can then be emptied the contents of the cash cassettes. Late last year, however, there were also discovered attacks in Russia where attackers remote ATMs with malware had infected by first banks to attack .

Most countries had so far mainly due to skimming, although seven countries recorded a decline in the number of skimming incidents and two countries saw an increase. There is also avoid a growing trend skimmers countries with an EMV chip. The greatest damage was skimming through this years ago in Indonesia, followed by the United States and the Philippines. The data from the EAST report come from 19 countries in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and two non-SEPA countries.