Latest opinions that Lachlan Gunn has shared on Finextra

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Lachlan Gunn

Executive Director

European Association for Secure Transactions

Member since

16 Mar 2007

Location

Perth

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Lachlan's opinions

Heat from your fingers could disclose your PIN at an ATM

Thermal cameras can apparently detect heat signatures from your fingers on the keys after you have left an ATM. The degree of heat residue can also indicate in which order you touched them! This technology will not work effectively on metal key pads, only on plastic ones, and the successs window is limited. The message "cover your PIN when ma...

30 August 2011 /security Information Security

Do you get SMS alerts for debit card transactions?

Does your bank provide SMS alerts for debit card transactions? If it does, do you use the service? According to an article in the Times of India, with effect from July 2011, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made it mandatory for ALL Indian banks to provide this service to debit card holders, and all debit card holders are required to register t...

18 August 2011 /security Information Security

Europol busts international cross border skimming operation

Operation Night Clone is a great success for Europol - not only has a major international skimming group been taken out of play, but Europol has again shown its operational teeth as a pan-European Law Enforcement Agency. While the Operation was led by Italy, authorities from Bulgaria, Poland, Spain and the USA were also involved. Europol took t...

18 July 2011 /security

Fraud migrates away as European EMV rollout nears completion

The European ATM Security Team (EAST) has just published a chart showing the impact on ATM related skimming losses of the rollout of EMV (chip and PIN) at European ATMs. There appears to have been a great deal of discussion about the merits of EMV in the United States recently, as the impact of card skimming is increasingly felt. Here in Europe n...

22 June 2011 /security

Is the rise of global card fraud being taken seriously?

According to the recent ACI commissioned survey as reported on this website, 81% of the 4,200 respondents, in the 14 countries surveyed, have confidence in the ability of their bank of financial institution to protect them - despite the prevalence of card fraud. I agree with the comment made by David Divitt of ACI; this is a great statistic and ...

11 February 2011 /security

The end for the magnetic stripe on payment cards?

EAST, the European ATM Security Team, has recently released European ATM crime statistics for the period January to June 2010. The figures show a 24% increase in card skimming attacks at European ATMs - 5,743 attacks were reported for the period January to June 2010, compared with 4,629 for the same period in 2009. This is the highest ever figu...

27 October 2010 /security

Now you can see why you should protect your PIN at an ATM!

I first did a blog on Do you Protect Your PIN at ATM on this site last winter. In it I stated: "The most common ways that criminals obtain a PIN at an ATM are by looking over your shoulder (defeated by covering your PIN), by using spy or micro cameras (also defeated by covering your PIN) and by using a false overlay over the PIN pad. It shoul...

23 September 2010 /security Information Security

Would you use biometric technology at an ATM?

The European ATM Security Team (EAST) is asking this question in its latest on-line research poll. Well would you? Such technology, both palm vein and finger vein is relatively common in Japan and also in use in Brazil. Other countries such as India are apparently looking to roll it out. Hmm. To date only 24% of the respondents would be happ...

01 September 2010 /security /regulation

EMV Smart Card security - what's the way forward?

My post on 'should we have chip only payment cards?' gave rise to some discussion and debate, and many thanks to all those concerned for their views and comments. The related website poll conducted by the European ATM Security Team (EAST) indicated that 60% of respondents felt that European EMV cards should not hold sensitive cardholder data as ...

19 January 2010 /security

More paper Fivers in ATMs or a Polymer note instead?

How convenient for the BoE to blame the current problem with old and tired 5 pound notes on the recession, and then push for the high street banks to take action. Weren't they doing exactly the same thing in early 2007 before the worst of the economic downturn began in 2008? Then the BoE Governor, Mervyn King, blamed High Street banks for the sh...

07 December 2009 /security /retail