Meet the Companies Keeping your Cash Safe from ATM Attacks

With Fintech booming, it’s often said that cash is on its way out. And to some extend it’s true; Sweden, for example, is fast becoming an almost entirely cashless society. According to its central bank, cash transactions make up barely 2% of the value of all payments. Over in the US, only 11% of consumers prefer cash payments.

But in reality, on a global scale cash is far from dead, as I found out at the ATM & Payments Security event held at The Tower Hotel in London

I caught up with Ron Delnevo, Executive Director Europe of ATMIA, who told me that cash still counts for 85% of global transactions! There are 3.2 million ATMs out there in the world and by 2020, there will be 4 million of them.

ATMs are of course obvious targets for criminals. The tactics they use to steal money vary. Some use ‘gas attacks’, meaning they try to blow the ATMs up, whilst others opt for cyber crime. There are also so-called ‘black box attacks. In a black box attack, criminals cut holes into the fascia or top of the ATM to gain access to its internal infrastructure. From there, the ATM’s cash dispenser is disconnected and attached to an external electronic device – the so-called black box.

But there is help! At the ATM & Payments Security event, I met several companies and industry leaders that are trying to beat the criminals.

One company was Oberthur Cash Protection, a French manufacturer. The team explained that in Europe, gas attacks are the most common because it’s very efficient, and “in five seconds you can blow up an ATM without harming the cash”. Their solution in case of attack, is to neutralise the bank notes by giving the notes a stamp – making them unusable.

Meanwhile Reslam – a South African company, offers a broad range of protection like geo-fencing, geo-location, interlocking design and real time monitoring.

And Richard Hampshire, CEO of CENOX told me: “We get reports of ATM attacks very day in Europe”. His company works with the big banks to monitor the black boxes and even offer people on the ground if that’s needed.

But there’s more to ATMs than withdrawing cash – and protecting them from theft. Ron thinks that we have seen nothing yet: “ATMs will become the bank branches of the future. It’s too costly to have staff, so automated ATMs will serve customers – they will be able to do more than what bank branches can now”.

So some parts of the world are perhaps getting closer to being cashless, but for now ATMs are here to stay.