Every year, crimes associated with the use of self-service devices become more sophisticated from a technical point of view. Nevertheless, one of the most common cases of financial losses for bank customers is still an ordinary theft of a card and PIN code.Unfortunately, not all banks agree to consider customer complaints and return money in causes where criminals withdrew cash using a stolen card or a stolen (skimmed or overheard) PIN code. Even if the bank agrees with the client’s case, police intervention will still be required. This process takes a lot of time and does not guarantee a refund.

International ATM & Cyber Security 2019 conference focused on physical and logical ATM security took place in London on October 8-9, bringing together leaders in banking technology from all around the world. Penkių kontinentų bankinės technologijos (BS/2) also took part in this event, introducing the comprehensive ATMeye.iQ security solution and a new Face Detection module. The system has been awarded several times: it has received ATMIA award for the best ATM protection solution, the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists award as the Lithuanian Product of the Year, therefore has drawn the attention also this time.

The Face Detection module is a part of the ATM video surveillance solution ATMeye.iQ, and is an ATM solution based on biometric technologies. It helps determine whether a person is currently in front of an ATM or not and is used to protect your ATM from burglary. The Face Detection module can be implemented on any self-service terminal equipped with a video camera and its main purpose is to prevent fraud. 

According to the European Safe Transaction Association (EAST), in 2018 the number of physical attacks on ATM machines in Europe increased by 27% (from 3,584 to 4,449 incidents), and the amount of money stolen this way increased by 16% (from 31 to 36 million Euro).Our case analysis showed that despite having all the necessary tools, banks did not use their full functionality to prevent the crimes. For example, banks turned to atm surveillance video only to get information on transactions, although it provides many more benefits. The modern video surveillance solutions increase the basic level of self-service devices protection, provide proactive ATM protection, simplify access to video when resolving disputes, and optimize operating with large amounts of transaction data.

The number of attacks on ATMs increases every year. The attacks themselves are changing, becoming more complex and sophisticated. Moreover, if several years ago bank clients were the main target for hackers, the criminals were hunting for bank card data and account information, now they have turned their attention to financial institutions. Obviously, you can steal much more from a bank than from any of its clients — here we are talking about millions of euros.For a long time, all attacks using special equipment or software were called logical. However, there are so many types of these attacks, so banking technology security specialists have even identified a separate group of terminal related fraud attacks. That is about skimming, shimming and trapping. In 2018 the number of terminal related fraud attacks decreased by 36% compared to 2017, but the total amount of stolen money remains huge: 247 million euros in 2018 and 353 million in 2017 (according to European Association of Secure Transactions, EAST).