Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hacker serving 5-year sentence invents ATM add-on to prevent theft

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 53 posts

Re: Hacker serving 5-year sentence invents ATM add-on to prevent theft

#11

Post by [deleted] »

abcd_f wrote: post #9

Clever. Won't survive in the field though, sorry. ATMs have metallic keypads and as few moving parts as possible for one simple reason, which is vandalism. People will hit and break ATM display in anger, because it didn't register their touch selection made with a hotdog. They will break, bend, twist and pull apart anything that as much as hints that it's possible. Something that swings 90 degrees and requires reason…

[deleted]

Re: Hacker serving 5-year sentence invents ATM add-on to prevent theft

#12

Post by quackerhacker »

Already__Taken wrote: post #8

I'd be surprised if this got implemented as it only costs the bank money without moving any more liability onto you.

It's plausible that select banks would implement it for publicity benefits.

The problem then occurs, as always, on the end users steps in their own security....ex 'would people at a casino care about their security, or will they pay that $10 fee or whatever it is just to pull money out of that unsecured atm."

Re: Hacker serving 5-year sentence invents ATM add-on to prevent theft

#13

Post by mpyne »

orofino wrote: post #6

I'm sorry, but don't smart cards completely obviate the skimmer issue? Aren't they widely used in Canada and Europe? I'm not terribly knowledgeable in this area, but I thought this was a solved problem being held up by corporate interest in the US.

The smart card I have requires only a PIN, and that PIN can be intercepted by suitable hardware can it not?

Re: Hacker serving 5-year sentence invents ATM add-on to prevent theft

#15

Post by dan-bell »

mpyne wrote: post #13
orofino wrote: post #6

I'm sorry, but don't smart cards completely obviate the skimmer issue? Aren't they widely used in Canada and Europe? I'm not terribly knowledgeable in this area, but I thought this was a solved problem being held up by corporate interest in the US.

The smart card I have requires only a PIN, and that PIN can be intercepted by suitable hardware can it not?

I've heard of pinhole cameras being used in card skimming operations where PIN numbers are required.

Re: Hacker serving 5-year sentence invents ATM add-on to prevent theft

#17

Post by anonymoushn »

umsm wrote: post #14

I don't know if the design is effective... what prevents anyone from installing a skimmer on/within this device?

Current skimmers need a horizontal swipe to read. This device requires the user to insert the card in the wrong orientation for the skimmer. The device holds onto the magnetic strip end of the card while it rotates, so it's not possible to skim after the device has performed the rotation. It's not clear how difficult or easy it is to make a skimmer that reads a card that is swiped vertically, though.

Re: Hacker serving 5-year sentence invents ATM add-on to prevent theft

#18

Post by uptown »

abcd_f wrote: post #9

Clever. Won't survive in the field though, sorry. ATMs have metallic keypads and as few moving parts as possible for one simple reason, which is vandalism. People will hit and break ATM display in anger, because it didn't register their touch selection made with a hotdog. They will break, bend, twist and pull apart anything that as much as hints that it's possible. Something that swings 90 degrees and requires reason…

I think this design might work better if the pivoting part were moved internal to the ATM. It'd avoid vandalism, and maintain the benefit of the sliding behavior occurring along a path inaccessible to the skimmer. The obvious downside to such a design is that you'd need to replace all of your ATMs which is why, I'm assuming, this design included the pivot mechanism on the outside.

Re: Hacker serving 5-year sentence invents ATM add-on to prevent theft

#19

Post by minikites »

I don't know much about the mechanical implications of this, but why not move the sensor instead of the card? Put the card in longways first, halfway in. Motorized sensor moves across card to scan it. There wouldn't be enough room left over for a skimmer that would still allow the ATM to read it and even if there was a skimmer, it makes the skimmer that much more expensive, since it would have to have a motor too.

I assume it would just be prohibitively expensive.

Post reply on HN