EAST and ATEFI Join Forces in the Global Fight against Payment Crime

ATEFI LogoEAST has joined forces with the Latin American Association of Operators Electronic Funds Transfer and Information Services (ATEFI) in order to further strengthen cross border cooperation in combating all types of payment crime including payment card fraud, hi-tech crime and ATM cyber and physical attacks.

The groups first engaged when ATEFI presented at the inaugural EAST Financial Crime and Security Forum (EAST FCS) in The Hague in June 2013 where ATEFI representatives Orlando Garcia, Executive Director, ATEFI (Panama) and Pablo Carretino, Head of Risk & Security, Banelco (Argentina) presented the ‘Fraud Situation in Latin America’.

EAST reciprocated by presenting at the first annual Latin American Forum on Security in Payment Systems in Paraguay last November, hosted by Oscar Castellano, ATEFI. Úna Dillon, EAST Development Director, shared information and data on payment crime activities affecting EAST members in Europe and around the world. The two organisations have been working together since then.

EAST Associate Members - badgeEAST Executive Director, Lachlan Gunn, said: “EAST is pleased to increase its global reach through cooperation with ATEFI, creating a greater network for combating the threats of payment crime. Today, to further strengthen the relationship, the two organisations agreed to mutual Associate Membership in order to facilitate the sharing of information on crimes affecting the payments industry and to help identify global threats…”

Mutual Associate Membership allows EAST and ATEFI to exchange strategic data and other non-operational information.

Second Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud

Second Strategic Meeting on Payment Card FraudEAST represented the private sector at the Second Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud (PCF) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This event which was organised by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) on 22-23 March 2016, provided the law enforcement community with a comprehensive overview of the ATM fraud and its migration to Asia.  The event was co-organised with ASEANAPOL, with the cooperation of INTERPOL and the support of the Romanian National Police and the Royal Malaysian Police.

This two-day meeting brought together 25 law enforcement officers from EU Member States (Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Romania and the UK) with their counterparts from the ASEANAPOL community (including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) to discuss cooperation in preventing and combating this type of crime.

Opening Ceremony 2EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn gave an overview of the European ATM Fraud situation and the problem caused by increasing losses in the ASEAN region.

The aim of the event was to increase awareness among experts about all types of non-cash means of payment, including card skimming, ATM malware, internet fraud and eCommerce fraud.  New and unreported modus operandi recently detected by different investigative units were shared between experts and cases involving European criminals active in Asia were discussed,  resulting in the elaboration of operational plans for coordinated actions in a close future.  

In November 2015 EAST supported the First Strategic Meeting on Payment Card Fraud which was held in the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) and was co-hosted by Europol and INTERPOL with the financial support of the Romanian authorities.

In October 2015 EAST participated in a two-day meeting in Bogota (Colombia) to discuss payment card fraud overseas and money withdrawals in Latin America.

 

 

EAST participates in International Payment Card Fraud Meeting in Singapore

Europol-Interpol- Event 1EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn participated in a two-day meeting in Singapore to discuss payment card fraud overseas and money withdrawals in the extended South East Asia region.

The meeting, which took place on 11th and 12th November 2015, was held in the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) and was co-hosted by Europol and INTERPOL in cooperation with the newly appointed Europol Liaison Officer to IGCI, the assistance of the EU Delegation in Singapore and the financial support of the Romanian authorities.

The meeting participants were 18 experts from EU Member States (Bulgaria, France, Germany and Romania) and Asian partners including Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam as well as ASEANAPOL.  EAST provided the law enforcement community with a comprehensive overview of the situation as perceived by the Industry.

The aim of this event was to increase awareness among experts about card skimming and overseas money withdrawals modi operandi and good practices, and identify new logical attacks and ATM and point-of-sales terminals malware. The final objective is to tackle organised crime groups with a view to maintaining a high level of security in Europe as well as all over the world.

More information can be found on the Europol website.

Europol-Interpol-Event 2

 

EAST presents at ISMG Fraud Summit in London

tower guoman hotelEAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn presented EAST and the latest EAST European ATM Crime Report at a Fraud Summit held by the Information Security Media Group (ISMG) in London on 27th October 2015.

The event was held at the Tower Guoman Hotel beside Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.  A key theme of the summit was that fraud is a global problem and that to fight it global collaboration is essential.

Other speakers who covered payment fraud included Neira Jones, an independent cyber and payments security expert who focused on social engineering; and Jeremy King, the PCI Security Standards Council’s International Director, whose talk highlighted that European data breaches are under-reported.

More information can be found on The Fraud Blog by Tracy Kitten.

 

 

EAST Presents at NCR Security Summit

NCR Security SummitEAST Executive Director, Lachlan Gunn, presented at the NCR Security Summit held in London on 12th October 2015.  The event, which was well attended by delegates from around the world, focused on the threats facing the ATM channel and what can be done to counter them.  NCR updated on Kalpana and the evolution of their security innovation.

EAST gave an overview of the ATM crime situation in Europe during the first six months of 2015, using statistics from the latest EAST European ATM Crime report (subsequently published on 13th October 2015).

Graham Mott of the LINK Scheme, and Chair of the EAST Expert Group on ATM Physical Attacks (EGAP), was also present at the event.

NCR is an Associate Member of EAST.

EAST and Europol strengthen their partnership

EAST Europol MoUToday, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with EAST in order to further strengthen the cooperation in combating all types of payment crime, including card-not-present fraud, card present fraud, hi-technology crime, as well as ATM malware and physical attacks.  The MoU allows Europol and EAST to exchange strategic data and other non-operational information.

The MoU was signed during the 36th EAST Meeting of National Members at Europol’s Headquarters in the Hague in the presence of all those attending.  EAST holds three such meetings annually and the June meeting each year is hosted by Europol at EC3.

Europol’s Deputy Director of Operations, Wil van Gemert, said: “Europol’s EC3 is pleased to further increase the cooperation with EAST, creating further capacity to combat the threats of payment crime. We look forward to a continued engagement and cooperation with EAST and its stakeholders combating new payment industry threats”

“Europol attended our inaugural meeting in February 2004 and we have been working closely together since then,” said Lachlan Gunn, EAST Executive Director. “The signing of this agreement further strengthens this relationship. Over the past 11 years ATM related payment card fraud has been the major fraud issue faced by many of our National Members, but logical and malware attacks are now recognised as an increasing threat. Our National Members represent 31 countries, with a total of 655,398 ATMs, and our working relationship with the European Cybercrime Centre is of great strategic importance to both the public and private sector.”

Europol recognises the severity of the threat presented by ATM logical and malware attacks and has prepared guidelines regarding this threat to ATMs. The production of this document has been coordinated by the EAST Expert Group on ATM Fraud (EGAF), and is a first of its kind. “The Guidance and recommendations regarding logical attacks on ATMs” which covers also ATM malware attacks, will be officially released tomorrow at the 2nd EAST Financial Crime & Security (FCS) Forum on 11-12 June 2015, at which Europol will be delivering a keynote presentation. It is also a great example of a coordinated central response from both Law Enforcement and the industry to fighting ATM malware threats in an effort to respond much more quickly than was the case with the card skimming threat when it first materialised.

The first ATM malware incidents were reported in Western Europe in 2014. According to EAST statistics, these were ‘cash out’ or ‘jackpotting’ attacks,. In 2014 51 such incidents were reported, with significant related losses. The release of this document will be restricted to Law Enforcement and the payment/banking industry only.

EAST attends the inaugural meeting of the ATM Security Association

ATM2014_Logo_20cm_sRGB (3)Lachlan Gunn, EAST Executive Director, attended the inaugural meeting of the ATM Security Association for Enhanced Technology (ATM Security Association) which was held in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on 20th May 2015.  EAST is an Associate Member of the new association.

Founded by both Wincor Nixdorf and Diebold, the ATM Security Association is focussed on bringing manufacturers and their suppliers together with the common target to create vendor independent standards for security solutions within the industry. Common standards could include unified interfaces or common procedures for core processes like key loading, simplifying the implementation of security solutions in ATM networks or the reaction to detected attacks.

The focus of the ATM Security Association is on both hardware and software-related threats, physical and logical attacks. The target is to consider the total environment of the ATM that can have a direct impact on secure usage and operations.

Membership of the ATM Security Association is open to all organisations that have a stake in global ATM security.