Oct. 10, 2019
ATM malware and logical attacks against ATMs are on the decline in Europe, according to the latest report by the European Association for Secure Transactions, a non-profit that tracks criminal fraud in the EU financial sector.
In first six months of 2019, ATM malware and logical attacks against ATMs were down 43% (from 61 to 35 incidences) and all bar one of the reported 'jackpotting' attacks were believed to have been unsuccessful, EAST said in a press release.
Three of the jackpotting attacks were the result of malware while and the remainder were so-called 'black box' attacks, where the perpetrators bore holes into the top of the cash machine to gain access to its internal infrastructure. Related losses were down 100% — from 250,000 ($250 million) to zero — although a small loss of less than 1,000 euro ($1,100) was reported in one case.
"This fall in logical and malware attacks is very good news and reflects the work that has been put into preventing such attacks by the industry and law enforcement," EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn said in the release.
TRF attacks way up, skimming down
Terminal related fraud attacks were up 59% (from 6,760 to 10,723 incidents), the report said. This increase was primarily due to an increase in transaction reversal fraud attacks (up from 2,292 to 5,649 incidents), while card skimming incidents fell to an all time low (down from 985 to 731 incidents).
In a TRF attack, a fraudster initiates a cash withdrawal and tricks the host into thinking the cash was not taken. The criminal has gained access to and removed the cash, yet the ATM perceives that no cash was dispensed and passes a reversal message, and the host typically does not debit th ..
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