The European Payments Council has released a set of recommendations designed to counteract card skimming at cash machines.
The banking industry standards body says that ATM operators and schemes should consider the introduction of more safeguards to protect cardholders from a crime that resulted in losses of over €438 million in Europe alone in 2007, according to figures from the European ATM Security Team.
The paper outlines a set of minimum standards for anti-skimming devices and suggests the establishment of a certification scheme for independent testing and validation. It also recommends the introduction of 'privacy shields' to hide the customer's hand at PIN entry and the fitting of anti-skimming devices at all newly-installed unattended machines as a standard feature.
The guidance also stipulates that where an existing machine has been subject to a previous attack, an anti-skimming solution should be retrofitted.
The proposals are not mandatory and their is no obligation on schemes and operators to follow the recommendations. However, the EPC says the effectiveness of the proposals will be monitored by its Cards Working Group and that further recommendations may follow in due course.
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