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25 November 2010, 12:28

Report: European ATM skimmer attacks on the rise

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Zoom A DAP skimmer for Diebold ATMs.
Source: krebsonsecurity.com
According to the European ATM Security Team (EAST), ATM skimming attacks are on the rise in Europe. The news is based on country crime updates provided by representatives of 17 European countries at the 22nd EAST meeting, which was held in Lisbon on the 6th of October, 2010.

In its third European Fraud Update for 2010, the organisation says that, for the period January to June of this year, ATM skimming incidents increased in 11 of the countries covered by the report, while four countries showed decreases. In one of the countries represented, criminals have started to visit more ATMs and use fewer cards at each site – previously the criminals attempted to maximise fraudulent cash withdrawals at a single ATM.

Additionally, EAST says that a new type of analogue skimming device based on digital audio players (DAP) has been reported in five countries. In a post on his blog, US security expert Brian Krebs notes that using audio technology to record data stored on magnetic stripes used by credit and debit cards has been well understood for some time now. Krebs says that "The basic method for conducting these attacks was mentioned in a 1992 edition of the hacker e-zine Phrack," adding that, "Since then, other electronics enthusiasts have blogged about their experiments with sound skimmers".

Full access to the EAST reports is available through a subscription of £88.13 per year.

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(crve)

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