2019 EAST FCS Seminars – Programme Announcement

EAST FCS

The programme for the 2019 EAST FCS Seminars is now available.

Two concurrent seminars will be held on 9th October 2019:

EAST FCS Terminal Fraud Seminar (organised by the EAST Expert Group on All Terminal Fraud (EGAF)

This interactive event follows the basic structure of EAST EGAF Member meetings.  An introduction to the Group will be followed by a presentation of the latest EAST Fraud Statistics (H1 2019) and a high-level overview of the European situation by Europol.  Then a session will then focus on the terminal fraud situation in four countries/regions, followed by a short discussion.  This will be followed by a practical demonstration of Project Checkcard, aimed at checking the validity of EMV cards, followed by a session topic still tbc.  Attendance at EAST EGAF meetings is limited due to the size of the Group and this event enables a wider participation and the opportunity for all attendees to engage with the Group and its organizers.

EAST FCS ATM Physical Attacks Seminar (organised by the EAST Expert Group on ATM & ATS Physical Attacks (EGAP)

This interactive event follows the basic structure of EAST EGAP Member meetings.  An introduction to the Group will be followed by presentation of the latest EAST Physical Attack Statistics (H1 2019) and recent attack definitions, and a high-level overview of the European situation.  Then a session will focus on the ATM physical attack situation in five countries, which will be followed by a session on banknote infrared recognition.  The event will conclude with a Q&A session on all attack types and counter-measures.  Attendance at EAST EGAP meetings is limited, as it is a working group, and this event enables a wider participation and the opportunity for all attendees to engage with the Group and its organizers.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE TERMINAL FRAUD SEMINAR

Otto de Jong, of ING Bank and Chair of EAST EGAF, will host the Terminal Fraud Seminar and chair the discussion on Threat Assessments – Europe;

Tobias Wieloch, of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), will provide an overview of terminal fraud in Europe from Europol’s perspective;

Arnt Olav Rottereng, of EVRY ATM Services, will update on the terminal fraud situation in the Nordics;

and Tobias Heckmann, Software Developer at the University of Applied Sciences Bingen, will present and demonstrate Project CheckCard, an investigation tool designed to assist law enforcement to validate whether or not a smart card is genuine.

 

New EAST Fraud Definitions now available in Russian

EAST Terminal Fraud Definitions are now available in the Russian language.  At the end of 2018 EAST upgraded its Terminal Fraud Definitions to illustrate what the criminal target outcome is for each fraud type.  In the upgraded definitions each applicable criminal benefit is highlighted next to each terminal fraud type.

The translation was carried out by two EAST National Member organisations – the Ukrainian Interbank Payment Systems Member Association “EMA”  and the MasterCard Members Association (MCMA).

These fraud definitions are used by EAST when issuing Fraud Alerts, or when compiling the statistics and other information for European Payment Terminal Reports and Fraud Updates.  The aim is for these Terminal Fraud Definitions, as well as the related criminal benefits, to be adopted globally when describing or reporting payment terminal fraud.  This translation into Russian is another step forward towards achieving this.

Below is the  definition for Card Skimming in the Russian language.

The definitions have been classified ‘WHITE’ under the terms of the EAST Information Security Policy and may be shared freely, subject to standard copyright rules.

EAST EGAF holds 18th Meeting in Amsterdam

EGAFThe Eighteenth Meeting of the EAST Expert Group on All Terminal Fraud (EAST EGAF) took place on Wednesday 8th May 2019 at ING Domestic Bank in Amsterdam.

EAST EGAF is a regional expert group that focuses on regional and global payment terminal crime and fraud related issues, threats and counter-measures.

The meeting was chaired by Mr Otto de Jong and was attended by key representatives from Terminal Deployers, Terminal Vendors, Networks, Card Schemes, Security Equipment and Software Vendors, Law Enforcement and Forensic Analysts.

The Group, which meets three times a year in advance of each of the meetings of EAST National Members, enables in-depth and technical discussion to take place on Logical and Malware attacks, Card Skimming, Card Trapping, Cash Trapping and Transaction Reversal Fraud.

In addition EAST EGAF generates EAST Fraud Alerts for all EAST Members (National and Associate). In total 210 EAST Fraud Alerts have been issued, 9 to date in 2019.

EAST EGAF meetings are restricted to working group members and, to provide a wider platform for sharing/discussion, the Group is holding a half-day open seminar in London on 9th October 2019.  Registration for this is now open and more information can be found on the EAST Events website.

2019 EAST FCS Seminars – Save The Date!

The 2019 EAST Financial Crime & Security (FCS) Seminars will be held on Wednesday 9th October 2019, at the Park Plaza, Victoria, London, UK.  Save the date!  Register now to get the Early Bird Registration Rate and save £100 on the Standard Registration Rate! (see current 2019 prices here)

Early Registration deadline – Monday 19th August 2019

Two concurrent seminars will be held:

To view last year’s EAST FCS programme and speakers or to check the venue details please visit our events website: www.east-events.org

These events will be co-located with RBR’s ATM & Cyber Security 2019 event, although separate registration is required.

FCS Seminars

EAST Upgrades Terminal Fraud Definitions

EAST has upgraded its Terminal Fraud Definitions to illustrate what the criminal target outcome is for each fraud type.  This information is now available on the EAST website.

The EAST Expert Group on All Terminal Fraud (EGAF) has identified six ways by which criminals achieve their targets from the different terminal fraud types as shown below:

In the upgraded Terminal Fraud Definitions each applicable criminal benefit is highlighted next to each terminal fraud type.  The defined Terminal Fraud Types are: Card Skimming; Card Shimming; Eavesdropping; Card Trapping; Cash Trapping; Transaction Reversal Fraud (TRF); Malware; and Black Box.

Below is the definition for Card Skimming which highlights that skimming enables criminals to: Create counterfeit cards; make card-not-present (CNP) purchases; use fake cards in-store; and sell compromised data.

fraud definitions - card skimming

EAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn said “This is a major step forward in standardising the classification of terminal fraud, which will hopefully help to continue to drive down related fraud losses. The EGAF Chair, Otto de Jong, and his team have produced something fresh and simple which we hope will be adopted globally by the Industry and Law enforcement when describing or reporting terminal fraud. In particular we would like to thank Ben Birtwistle of NatWest Bank plc, along with Claire Shufflebotham and Niek Westendorp of TMD Security, whose creative ideas and design made this latest upgrade possible.”

A summary of the upgraded fraud definitions and terminology is available on the EAST website along with a more detailed document for download.  These have been classified ‘WHITE’ under the terms of the EAST Information Security Policy and may be shared freely, subject to standard copyright rules.

200 Fraud Alerts Issued by EAST

EAST has published its 200th Fraud Alert.  These Alerts are issued by EAST National Members, often with the support of Law Enforcement and other EAST Associate Members.  To date 28 countries have issued Fraud Alerts covering ATMs, Unattended Payment Terminals (UPTs) and Point of Sale (POS) Terminals.

EAST first started issuing Fraud Alerts in September 2013.  These Alerts provide valuable and timely intelligence to law enforcement agencies and the industry, allowing the spread of emerging threats and criminal methodologies to be tracked across the world.  While most of the Alerts have been issued by countries within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), there have been some from Belarus, Mexico, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States.

To date EAST Fraud Alerts issued have covered:  Black Box attacks (cash out / jackpotting); Card Shimming (S1 devices); Card Skimming (highlighting the spread of different devices such as M1, M2, M3, D2 and D3); Card Trapping; Cash Trapping; Deposit Fraud; Eavesdropping (highlighting the use of different MOs such as E2 and E3); EMV Shock Cards; Malware (cash out / jackpotting); Transaction Reversal Fraud; and Vandalism.  The table below shows a summary the Alerts issued:

Fraud Alerts

Definitions of the different fraud types and related terminology are available on this website.

The EAST Expert Group on All Terminal Fraud (EGAF) initiated the Fraud Alerts and conducts in-depth analysis of some of the emerging threats and devices.  Each Alert covers: the type of fraud; the country where discovered; the terminal type(s) affected; an indication as to whether or not the fraud was successful; a description of the device and the criminal MO; indication as to the device location; information on PIN compromise (if card skimming or card trapping); and any available images.

EAST also issues Payment Alerts and Physical Attack Alerts.

EAST Alerts contain sensitive information and are restricted to EAST Members (National and Associate).  They are classified as AMBER using the variant of the Traffic Light Protocol (TLP) adopted by EAST.

EAST Presents at CyberSouth Event

CyberSouthEAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn presented at a CyberSouth Regional Workshop on Business Email Compromise (CEO Fraud) and Electronic Payment Fraud on 13 November 2018 . The event, which ran from 12-14 November 2018, was held at the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) in Bucharest, Romania and was implemented by the Council of Europe.  The CyberSouth project focuses on cooperation on cybercrime in the Southern Neighbourhood and aims at reinforcing the capacities of specialised units with responsibilities relating to tackling cybercrime and dealing with electronic evidence.

The workshop focused on increasing the knowledge of the participants on the different trends and typologies of online fraud and of electronic payment fraud in order to assist with strengthening the capacity of the criminal justice authorities in the CyberSouth countries to search for, seize, and confiscate the illicit proceeds of cyber-criminals in the target areas.  Cybercrime investigators and prosecutors from the following Southern Neighbourhood priority area countries attended the event: Algeria; Jordan; Lebanon; Morocco; Tunisia.

National representatives were also present from Germany, Israel, Romania and the USA.  Europol and Eurojust were present and the private sector was represented by American Express, BIT Defender and EAST.

The EAST presentation covered the structure and methodology used by EAST to help improve public/private sector cross-border cooperation in the fight against organised cross-border crime, and then shared information on the latest statistics and trends relating to logical (black box) attacks against ATMs, and also on malware used to enable jackpotting (cash out) at ATM locations.  The latest fraud definitions produced by EAST were also shared and it was advised that an updated version of these will soon be available.  These definitions are aimed at helping law enforcement agencies, private sector fraud investigators and other stakeholders to standardise reporting terminology when following up on incidents.

The Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC), based in Bucharest, is responsible for assisting countries worldwide in the strengthening of their criminal justice capacity to respond to to the challenges posed by cybercrime and electronic evidence on the basis of the standards of the Budapest Convention of Cybercrime.  This is the only binding international instrument on this issue and serves as a guideline for any country developing comprehensive national legislation against Cybercrime and as a framework for international cooperation between State Parties to The Convention on Cybercrime of the Council of Europe (CETS No.185).

 

EAST Publishes European Fraud Update 3-2018

European FraudEAST has published its third European Fraud Update for 2018. This is based on country crime updates given by representatives of 15 countries in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), and 3 non-SEPA countries, at the 46th EAST meeting held in London on 9th October 2018.

Payment fraud issues were reported by fourteen countries. Seven countries reported card-not-present (CNP) as a key fraud driver. One country reported merchant manipulation of settlement files to force through authorisations on POS terminals – once the forced transaction is through on a card the merchant cashes out using it. One country reported malware related to two APT attacks – some Chinese criminals are under observation in connection with them. Another country reported impersonation fraud relating to bill payments – possibly involving collusive postal workers. To date in 2018 the EAST Payments Task Force (EPTF) has published six Payment Alerts covering phishing, malware on mobile phones, fraudulent mobile Apps, CNP fraud and Technological fraud. The EPTF has recently published payment terminology and definitions.

ATM malware and logical security attacks were reported by seven countries.  Four of the countries reported ATM related malware and six countries reported the usage (or attempted usage) of ‘black-box’ devices to allow the unauthorised dispensing of cash.  To date in 2018 the EAST Expert Group on All Terminal Fraud (EGAF) has published eleven related Fraud Alerts.

Card skimming at ATMs was reported by fourteen countries.  The overall trend is downward, as the recently published EAST European Payment Terminal Crime Report covering January to June 2018 highlights.  The usage of M3 – Card Reader Internal Skimming devices was reported by four countries and one country reported the use of M2 – Throat Inlay Skimming Devices.  Skimming attacks on other terminal types were reported by five countries, three of which reported such attacks on unattended payment terminals (UPTs) at petrol stations.  One country reported that a series of shimming devices at POS terminals had been detected and taken down.  To date in 2018 EAST EGAF has published twelve related Fraud Alerts.

Year to date International skimming related losses were reported in 44 countries and territories outside SEPA and in 6 within SEPA.  The top three locations where such losses were reported remain Indonesia, the USA and India.

Six countries reported incidents of Transaction Reversal Fraud (TRF), one of which reported a new attack variant where the criminals use a ‘chip-on-a-strip’.  To date in 2018 EAST EGAF has published five related Fraud Alerts.

Ram raids and ATM burglary were reported by eight countries and eight countries reported explosive gas attacks, one of which reported that two people had been sent to hospital due to related smoke inhalation.  Five countries reported solid explosive attacks.  The spread of such attacks has long been of great concern to the industry due to the risk to life and to the significant amount of collateral damage to equipment and buildings.  One such attack resulted in the death of a person, the first time that this has been reported.  To date in 2018 the EAST Expert Group on ATM & ATS Physical Attacks (EGAP) has published seven related Physical Attack Alerts.

The full Fraud Update is available to EAST Members (National and Associate).

EAST Publishes European Fraud Update 2-2018

FraudEAST has published its second European Fraud Update for 2018.  This is based on country crime updates given by representatives of 18 countries in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), and 3 non-SEPA countries, at the 45th EAST meeting held in The Hague on 6th June 2018.

Payment fraud issues were reported by fifteen countries.  Seven countries reported card-not-present (CNP) as a key fraud driver.  Two countries reported attempted ‘Forced Post’ fraud, possible when some point of sale (POS) terminals allow the ‘force sale’ functionality.  One country reported a new form of malware on android mobile phones, distributed with a fake application uploaded from third-party android stores.  Another country reported cases of SIM swap fraud, where fraudsters authorise a bank transfer by switching the customer’s mobile phone number over to a new SIM and intercept the authorisation message.  To date in 2018 the EAST Payments Task Force (EPTF) has published five Payment Alerts covering phishing, malware on mobile phones, fraudulent mobile Apps and CNP fraud.

ATM malware and logical security attacks were reported by nine countries.  Five of the countries reported ATM related malware.  In addition to Cutlet Maker (used for ATM cash-out) a new variant called WinPot has been reported – this is used to check how many banknotes are in an ATM.  Six countries reported the usage (or attempted usage) of ‘black-box’ devices to allow the unauthorised dispensing of cash.  To date in 2018 the EAST Expert Group on All Terminal Fraud (EGAF) has published seven related Fraud Alerts. To help counter these threats Europol, supported by EAST EGAF, has published a document entitled ‘Guidance and Recommendations regarding Logical attacks on ATMs’.  It covers mitigating the risk, setting up lines of defence and identifying and responding to logical attacks.  This is available in four languages: English, German, Italian and Spanish.

Card skimming at ATMs was reported by fourteen countries.  For the first time one country reported the arrest of a Chinese national in connection with such attacks.  The usage of M3 – Card Reader Internal Skimming devices remains most prevalent.  This type of device is placed at various locations inside the motorised card reader behind the shutter.  Six countries reported such attacks.  One country reported the use of M2 – Throat Inlay Skimming Devices.  Skimming attacks on other terminal types were reported by five countries, four of which reported such attacks on unattended payment terminals (UPTs) at petrol stations.  To date in 2018 EAST EGAF has published ten related Fraud Alerts.

Year to date International skimming related losses were reported in 31 countries and territories outside SEPA and in 3 within SEPA.  The top three locations where such losses were reported remain Indonesia, the USA and India.

Three countries reported incidents of Transaction Reversal Fraud (TRF), two of which reported new attack variants.  To date in 2018 EAST EGAF has published four related Fraud Alerts.

Ram raids and ATM burglary were reported by eight countries.  Six countries reported explosive gas attacks, one of which reported such attacks against ATS machines for the first time.  Another reported that explosive gas attacks against ATMs have started for the first time.  Five countries reported solid explosive attacks.  The spread of such attacks is of great concern to the industry due to the risk to life and to the significant amount of collateral damage to equipment and buildings.  To date in 2018 the EAST Expert Group on ATM & ATS Physical Attacks (EGAP) has published five related Physical Attack Alerts.

The full Fraud Update is available to EAST Members (National and Associate).

EAST Publishes European Fraud Update 1-2018

EAST Fraud Update 1-2018EAST has just published its first European Fraud Update for 2018.  This is based on country crime updates given by representatives of 18 countries in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), and 4 non-SEPA countries, at the 44th EAST meeting held in Frankfurt on 7th February 2018.

Payment fraud issues were reported by fifteen countries.  Seven countries reported increases in card-not-present (CNP) fraud related to ecommerce merchants in China.  Phishing activity was reported by four countries and one of them reported phishing attacks through advertisements placed on social media sites.  The EAST Payments Task Force (EPTF) issued a first Payment Alert in January 2018.  This covered a phishing email sent to employees of banking and financial institutions, which contained malware intended to exploit the local network and gain access to Swift services.

ATM malware and logical security attacks were reported by ten countries.  Five of the countries reported ATM related malware and one country reported the first successful Cutlet Maker cash-out attack in Western Europe.  To date in 2018 the EAST Expert Group on All Terminal Fraud (EGAF) has published two related Fraud Alerts.  Seven countries reported the usage (or attempted usage) of ‘black-box’ devices to allow the unauthorised dispensing of cash.  To help counter these threats Europol, supported by EAST EGAF, has published a document entitled ‘Guidance and Recommendations regarding Logical attacks on ATMs’.  It covers mitigating the risk, setting up lines of defence and identifying and responding to logical attacks.  This is available in four languages: English, German, Italian and Spanish.

Card skimming at ATMs was reported by sixteen countries.  The usage of M3 – Card Reader Internal Skimming devices is most prevalent.  This type of device is placed at various locations inside the motorised card reader behind the shutter.  Five countries reported such attacks.  Skimming attacks on other terminal types were reported by five countries, all of which reported such attacks on unattended payment terminals (UPTs) at petrol stations.  One country also reported the use of card shimming devices at POS terminals.  To date in 2018 EAST EGAF has published three related Fraud Alerts.

Year to date International skimming related losses were reported in 40 countries and territories outside SEPA and in 7 within SEPA.  The top three locations where such losses were reported remain the USA, Indonesia and India.

Five countries reported incidents of Transaction Reversal Fraud (TRF).  Two countries reported a continued increase in such attacks and two countries reported new modus-operandi.  To date in 2018 EAST EGAF has published two related Fraud Alerts.

Ram raids and ATM burglary were reported by ten countries and, to date in 2018, the EAST Expert Group on ATM & ATS Physical Attacks (EGAP) has published one related ATM Physical Attack Alert.  Eight countries reported explosive gas attacks and six countries reported solid explosive attacks.  The spread of such attacks is of increasing concern to the industry due to the risk to life and to the significant amount of collateral damage to equipment and buildings.

The full Fraud Update is available to EAST Members (National and Associate).