Mellon Technologies, one of the largest Greek IT companies with a leading role in the electronic transactions market and parent company of Mellon Group of Companies, introduced recently a set of anti-skimming solutions to satisfy the need of financial institutions for greater protection of ATM-related transactions.
Banks in Greece need to address the increasing number of attacks against their ATMs, a phenomenon that has taken the financial sector worldwide by storm.
"In the past few years there has been a significant increase in card skimming incidents at the ATM. Fraudsters place at the ATM a fake card reader that reads the data on the cards' magnetic stripe, whereas with the installation of a phony keyboard or a video camera they are able to steal the PIN," noted Alexandra Poursanidou, Business Unit Manager - Banking Self Service Systems, Mellon Technologies.
According to recent data published by EAST (European ATM Security Team), during the first half of 2008 there were 6,153 such attacks reported against European ATMs (approximately 18.8 attacks per 1,000 ATMs), showing a 143% increase compared to the same period in 2007. Out of these attacks, 4,609 were through card skimming methods, whereas the overall losses for European banks reached during that period €438 million! For this reason the European Payments Council has put together a set of recommendations for financial institutions, regarding measures against such attacks. Especially exposed to card-skimming attacks are countries that have not yet migrated to the EMV standards.
Mellon Technologies' anti-skimming solutions aim to prevent malicious data stealing by detecting and preventing the installation of skimming devices at the ATM. Moreover, and upon banks' request, the ATM may be set in an 'out of order' mode in case a card-skimming device is detected. To achieve increased security, Mellon Technologies has also presented an online camera-based solution using one and up to four cameras at the ATM. The cameras are activated by a variety of incidents, such us physical attack and/or vandalism attempts.
"Mellon Technologies, one of the first companies in Greece that got involved in the financial self-service market, cooperates with Diebold and other established anti-skimming solutions providers like TMD-Security to support its customers in Greece and abroad in their efforts to prevent ATM-related fraud. These solutions have been successfully installed at ATMs worldwide, regardless of the ATM manufacturer," commented Ms Poursanidou
Already the first Greek banks, among which National Bank of Greece and Emporiki Bank (Credit Agricole), are upgrading their ATM network with Mellon Technologies anti-skimming solutions, whereas in 2009 the adoption rate of such solutions is expected to increase significantly by the majority of the banks.