ATM Malware reaches Western Europe
In a European ATM Crime Report covering H1 2014 EAST has reported an estimated 20 incidents of ATM Malware. These were ‘cash out’ or ‘jackpotting’ attacks and all occurred on the same ATM type from a single ATM deployer in one country. While many ATM Malware attacks have been seen over the past few years in Russia, Ukraine and parts of Latin America, this is the first time that such attacks have been reported in Western Europe.
EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn said, “While this was one group of criminals attacking a single ATM type in a specific type of location, this is a worrying new development for the industry in Europe. Through the EAST Expert Group on ATM Fraud (EGAF) we have been working with the ATM Vendors, and vendors of logical security systems and services, to communicate the steps that should be taken by ATM deployers and networks to mitigate these risks across all ATM types and locations. The industry in Europe has taken significant steps to reduce ATM related fraud and the overall drop in incidents reflects this.”
There was a 42% decrease in ATM related fraud attacks, when compared to the same period in 2013. For the first time card trapping incidents were in the majority with 2,579 such incidents reported, up 49% from the 1,735 incidents reported in H1 2013. Card skimming incidents fell by 21% (continuation of a downward trend that started in 2010), cash trapping attacks by 52% and incidences of transaction reversal fraud by 96%.
Overall ATM related fraud losses of €132 million were reported, up 7% from the €124 million reported in H1 2013. The majority of these losses (€129 million) are due to card skimming and the increase has been driven by a rise in international losses (losses on domestic cards taking place outside national borders). Such losses rose by 11% when compared with H1 2013 (up from €100 million to €111 million). Nearly all these losses are occurring in the United States, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
ATM related physical attacks on European ATMs increased by 3% (up from 1,007 to 1,032 incidents) driven by an increase in vandalism and other minor attacks. The number of solid explosive and explosive gas attacks at ATMs fell by 12% (down from 337 in H1 2013 to 298). Such attacks were reported by eight countries, four of them countries with more than 40,000 ATMs installed. An increase in solid explosive attacks is an emerging trend.
Overall reported losses due to ATM physical attacks rose 29% to €13 million. Combined losses due to ram raids, ATM burglary and explosive attacks increased by 24% when compared to the same period in 2013 and the average cash loss for such attacks is €14,109 per incident.
A summary of the report statistics under the main headings is in the full press release. The full report, with breakdowns for each crime category, is available to EAST Members (National & Associate), and to individual subscribers.
