ATM black box attacks soar in Europe

ATM black box attacks soar in Europe

Europe saw a surge in the number of ATM black box attacks - where devices are attached to machines and command cash outs - in the first half of 2017.

There were 114 such attacks across 11 countries over the six months, more than 300% up on the 28 seen in H1 2016, according to the European Association for Secure Transactions (East), which estimates related losses of EUR1.5 million.

Overall, payment terminal related fraud attacks rose 10% to 11,934 incidents. This rise was mainly driven by an 88% increase in transaction reversal fraud but card skimming incidents fell 22% to 1,221 - the lowest number since at least 2004.

Losses due to payment terminal related fraud attacks were also down - 29% to EUR124 million, compared to EUR174 million in the first half of 2016.

Meanwhile, physical attacks on cash machines rose six per cent, to 1604 incidents, despite a small fall in the number of explosive hits. Related losses were down 55% to EUR12.2 million.

Comments: (0)

Trending