Message from the Executive Director

The end of another busy year is almost upon us.  On behalf of the EAST Board I would like to thank everyone who has contributed towards the continued success of EAST this year – and it has been a very busy year.  In June we changed our name to become the European Association for Secure Transactions, the culmination of many discussions held by our Board and National Members, and positioning EAST to continue to be able to support the needs of our members in the fast changing payments landscape.  The announcement was made at our Third EAST FCS Forum in The Hague.  This well-attended event, the best yet, also featured two new interactive workshops run by EAST EGAF and EAST EGAP.

We held National Member meetings in Oslo in February (our 41st Meeting hosted by Bits AS), in The Hague in June (our 42nd Meeting hosted by Europol) and in Edinburgh in October (our 43rd Meeting hosted by the LINK Scheme).  In January Halo BCA joined EAST as a new National Member for Indonesia and in April Banorte IXE joined EAST as a new National Member for Mexico

The EAST Expert Group on All Terminal Fraud (EGAF), chaired by Otto de Jong, held three meetings in January, May and September, all hosted by ING in Amsterdam.  EGAF updated its guidelines on standardising terminology for locations of Card Data Compromise (CDC) devices at ATMs and also the definitions used to report and classify ATM fraud.  Law Enforcement participation is from Europol, the US Secret Service, the BKA and the French Gendarmerie (IRCGN).

The EAST Expert Group on ATM and ATS Physical Attacks (EGAP), chaired by Graham Mott, held two meetings in March and September, both in The Hague, one hosted by Europol and the other by the LINK Scheme.  Law Enforcement participation in this group is increasing with LEAs from 8 different countries participating, in addition to Europol.

The EAST Payments Task Force (EPTF), chaired by Rui Carvalho, held its first face-to-face meeting in April and its second meeting last month.  Both were hosted by the BPFI in Dublin.  This group will add value to the payments industry by using the unique and extensive EAST National Member platform and Associate Member network to provide information and outputs that are not currently available elsewhere.  Law Enforcement participation is from Europol and the US Secret Service.

In addition to the work of the above groups, we supported Law Enforcement during the year by presenting at:  the Europol Training on Payment Card Forensics; an INTERPOL event focussed on countering Cyber and Financial Crimes; Europol’s 4th Strategic Payment Card Fraud meeting in Asia; and Europol’s first combined Strategic Payment Card Fraud Meeting with representatives from Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America.

We took part in the 5th Europol-INTERPOL Cybercrime Conference and formalised a relationship with ASEANAPOL, another step forward in addressing the consequences of the spread of the activities of organised criminal groups across regions and globally.

We also presented at the following private sector events: the MasterCard Global Risk Leadership Conference – Europe, the NCR Fraud & Security Summit, the Third Latin America Security Forum, and the General Assembly of Vigie Billet.

EAST continues to keep abreast of the latest fraud trends and crime information, publishing our European Payment Terminal Crime Reports and European Fraud Updates.  Our thanks again go out to all the people and organisations that have shared information for the above, and for EAST Fraud Alerts (41 sent out this year to date), and EAST ATM Physical Attack Alerts (12 sent out this year to date).  Our first Payment Alert is expected to be published shortly.

EAST Associate Membership continues to grow.  We now have 192 Associate Member organisations from 52 countries and territories.  This membership category is open for worldwide application to all Banks, Law Enforcement (free membership available), and other approved ATM Stakeholder organisations.

Wherever you are reading this I would like to wish you a wonderful festive break and a very happy New Year!

Kind regards

Lachlan

 

EAST presents at NCR Fraud & Security Summit

Fraud & Security SummitEAST Executive Director Lachlan Gunn presented at the 5th Annual NCR Fraud & Security Summit, held in London on 9th October 2017.  The event allowed security experts from around the world to share experiences and information on a wide array of security topics such as emerging threats, trends, solutions and innovations.

Lachlan Gunn (pictured on the right with NCR’s Charlie Harrow) gave an overview of EAST and its new structure, before delivering an update on the payment fraud and crime situation in Europe.  He referred to statistics from EAST’s recently published European Payment Terminal Crime Report which highlighted a significant increase in logical (black box) attacks.

The Agenda included presentations that covered NCR’s Security Startegy, expanding logical protection to the Network, contactless and new technologies, protecting ATMs from physical attacks, ATM attack trends and an update on the new NCR 80 Series ATMs.

3rd EAST FCS Forum – the most successful yet!

EAST FCS ForumThe sun has set on another successful EAST Financial Crime & Security (FCS) Forum which was held for the second time at the Grand Hotel Amrâth Kurhaus, in Scheveningen, The Hague. Feedback from delegates has been hugely positive.  This year marked a new format which included plenary sessions covering expert information from global regions: Asia-Pacific (ASEAN), Latin America, USA, Russia and Europe. 19 expert speakers travelled from 14 countries around the world to share their knowledge of ATM crime prevention.

In addition an afternoon of breakout sessions was held covering topics related to ATM and payment terminal fraud, and to ATM physical attacks.

Networking opportunities were abundant – a welcome cocktail the evening before the event, ensured all delegates were comfortable to kick off the Forum having met with their peers in a relaxed environment. Exhibitors enjoyed increased traffic through the exhibition hall, giving demos to attendees during coffee breaks, lunch and demonstration sessions.

 

Day One of the EAST FCS Forum opened with keynote speaker Steven Wilson, Head of the Europol Cyber Crime Centre (EC3) who spoke about the multi-faceted approach to countering cybercrime and the success of public private partnerships, especially the cooperation between EC3, non-EU States and EAST members.

Lachlan Gunn, Executive Director EAST, provided relevant statistics from the EAST European ATM Crime Report. He also announced a name change for EAST which is now the European Association for Secure Transactions. A milestone for EAST which has mainly focused on issues facing the ATM industry thus far, but which will now look at all threats against payment terminals (ATM, SST and POS), as well the security of payments and transactions.

Lachlan was followed by presenters from ASEANAPOL, the US Secret Service, the Russian Mastercard Members Association, and from the Latin American Association of Operators Electronic Funds Transfer and Information Services (ATEFI), who all gave the audience the most current information on activity in their regions.

In the afternoon breakout sessions Otto de Jong, EAST EGAF Chair, led discussions which covered R&D by fraudsters on EMV and old school ATM Fraud, and Graham Mott, EAST EGAP Chair, facilitated discussions on banknote degradation, physical attack types and countermeasures and traditional attacks.

The day closed out nicely with a BBQ by the beach!

Day Two kicked off with Group-IB providing an overview on the evolution of logical attacks on financial institutions. This was followed by a case study on Black Box attacks from NCR Czech Republic and an update from ING Netherlands on the evolution of gas and solid explosive attacks. There was a case study on countering such explosive attacks from the UK’s West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, and the final talk of the day came from Rui Carvalho, Development Director EAST, who is building the EAST Payments Task Force and provided an overview on current and future activities for EAST.

In her closing address, conference Chairman Úna Dillon, Development Director of EAST, summarised the two-day conference by noting the importance of cross-border public-private sector cooperation in the fight against financial crime – stressing the need for private sector industry stakeholders to collaborate with law-enforcement agencies. She added that whilst EAST delivered the conference, the people charged with building the event are also deeply involved in the collaborative work already going on. Their ‘on-the-ground’ involvement means the EAST FCS Forum agenda will always be relevant and current.

This 3rd EAST FCS Forum has proven to be a successful platform in bringing together the perfect mix of banking representatives, security experts, law enforcement, payments associations, government agencies and many other stakeholders in the ATM and payment crime prevention sector  –  the dialogue and learning from  across Europe, the USA, Latin America, Russia and Asia-Pacific will no doubt help all participants to better detect and prevent current and future financial crime threats.

The event could not have taken place without the support of sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and delegates. EAST hugely appreciates the participation of all who took part and thanks everyone for their contribution to making the event a success.

Overall sponsor of the EAST FCS Forum 2017 was 3SI Security Systems.

Other sponsors and exhibitors included, the ATM Security Association, ACG, BVK, GMV, MIB, Startech Ltd. and TMD Security.

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.