To Secure ATM Transactions: Ditch the Card (securityledger.com)

chicksdaddy writes: Security Ledger has a piece that looks at the efforts of a string of startups to secure ATM transactions from skimmers and malware-based attacks. Step 1: get rid of the ATM card. The article profiles a couple different companies. One, Trusona, has technology that can uniquely identify standard issue ATM cards by analyzing the unique distribution of Barium Ferrite particles on their magnetic strips and using it to connect the card to the customer. The company combines that with card swipe biometrics to thwart malware-based replay attacks. The article also mentions upgrades that will allow banking customers in the U.S. to use a mobile application to withdraw cash from ATMs without a card or PIN, and a prototype from Diebold that combines proximity based sensing (via NFC) with iris scans to authenticate customers and authorize transactions. Cool as it sounds, its worth remembering that most ATM attacks are decidedly "low tech." A survey by the ATM Industry Association in 2015 listed "physical attacks" and those using "explosives" as the second and third most common type of ATM attack after card skimming.

Comments

Who is still using mag stripes on ATM cards?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't skim a chip. Well, not with something that you can disguise on an ATM.

Re:Who is still using mag stripes on ATM cards?

[slashping]

US still use mostly the strip

But the article is talking about upgrading the ATM to do a barium analysis on the cards. That seems idiotic if you can also upgrade it with a chip reader which is standard, and much more reliable.

Re:Who is still using mag stripes on ATM cards?

[Anonymous Coward]

So are Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, and Uganda. You don't see many people suggesting they act like European countries because of it, though.

Having spent a lot of time in the UK, the only resemblances to it that Canada has that I can think of are we still have a Queen (though she can no longer make laws here), kept some British spellings, and that's pretty much it. Canadian grocery stores (that aren't bottom tier) bag stuff for you, we mostly have intersections with lights (not roundabouts), police carry guns and are not considered friendly neighbours, most British language and British slang is either not understood or is just plain odd (nobody calls it a lift, being pissed means angry, chips are thin round crunchy discs, and you don't have flats not let them). If you want classic British cuisine you'll have to seek out the rare British pub and they will do a very bad impression of it. Pickup trucks are still the best selling vehicles and Canadian cars are closer to US size. Homes are some of the largest in the world here. Taxes are closer to US level than UK level. Canada is 12th on the gun ownership list, the UK is at 82.

Canada is neither the US nor Europe nor Britain. However, between all those, Canada is closest to the US, physically and by attitudes/preferences as well. Now, if you focus on Quebec, things change a bit, but for the odd rather than closer to Europe (France is not fond of Quebec). Quebec is far away from being similar to the US and yet also very far away from being similar to anything European.

Actually, suggesting Canada is like other countries in the Americas might possibly be the most interesting comparison I've heard. The problem is the rest of the Americas outside of Canada and the US are doing poorly economically. I wonder if those other countries would end up similar to Canada given a solid economy and lower corruption levels?

Re:actually it is really easy

[Anonymous Coward]

Ditch the card. Bitcoins.

Re:actually it is really easy

[dissy]

Use Bitcoins and get tagged by the FBI and all other three letter agencies you can think of.

If you're an American and not working for the authorities, you're already "tagged" by the government for observation as a suspected criminal.
No action is required on your part for this, so there is little point in letting it stop you from using bitcoin.