Communication key to protect ATMs

ATMs are moving into more spaces as self-service takes the banking world by storm. Alongside cash recyclers and next gen ATM standards. like XFS4IoT and cash recyclers, ATMs are going through a major period of innovation. However, the innovation presents a big risk as international criminals will continue to expand operations targeting ATMs.

So how can organizations protect the ATMs? Matt Nollau, supervisory special agent at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Matt Snow, head of cash and ATM operations, Regions Bank and Paul Nicholls, director business development, Oberthur Cash, discussed the issue during a panel at ATMIA held from Feb. 7-9 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

What criminals are up to

Nollau spoke about how ATM attacks are advancing in the U.S. When the industry develops new methods to prevent attacks, criminals advance to a new approach.

In particular, he said criminals are moving from chain attacks to explosives, which are far more dangerous for people and law enforcement. This follows the same trend internationally, since today in the U.S., the majority of the attacks drag the ATM away whereas in other countries, such attacks are in the minority and explosives are more common.

Nollau said there is another theory: Criminals are now sharing data on how to attack ATMs.

Although there is not enough data in the U.S., in Europe, criminals hold "classes on how to blow up ATMs." Some of these criminal groups are even sharing tutorials, he said.

Nollau noted one group of U.S. criminals used multiple methods within a two-month span, including chain attack, pipe bomb, gas explosive and a grinder.

Stopping ATM attacks

So how can banks prevent ATM attacks? Snow said the most important element is sharing information as it's now a massive industry problem.

"We have been blessed attack rates haven't been as high as the rest of the world. But now it's here," Snow said.

Regions Bank is using variety of methods to prevent attacks, including gates, steel blockers and camera analytics. In particular it has found dye to be effective.

With one attack, when the criminals stole the bank notes, ink spilled everywhere. When they came back the second time to another ATM, as soon as they saw the ink protection, they left it alone.

Speaking of ink, Nicholls spoke about the Intelligent Bank Note Neutralization System, which works to neutralize the usage of stolen money from ATMs. This system produces an indelible ink that is traceable.

Nicholls said after deploying this system Sweden saw ATM attacks drop dramatically.

However, Snow noted that "there is no silver bullet" to prevent attacks.

To win the battle, Snow said that everyone needs to "participate in the information share. Aggressively pursue your partners for solutions and let's defeat the bad guys together."