The RBI has taken note of the rising ATM frauds and asked banks to upgrade their ATMs or face action. All banks have been asked to implement a host of security measures by August and upgrade all ATMs with supported version of operating system in a phased manner by June next year.
RBI has directed banks to implement anti-skimming and whitelisting solutions by March 2019. There were over 2.06 lakh ATMs across the country till February-end, according to media reports.
Skimmers are devices that can be attached over an ATM machine’s card slot to read information from the card. The information collected by such devices is then used for cloning. Anti-skimming devices prevent the skimmer from functioning. Similarly, whitelisting solutions allow only trusted applications to work on the ATM and block any other application. Cards are then cloned and used abroad to avoid detections.
Banks and white label ATM operators (Non-bank entities that intend setting up, owning and operating) have been asked to implement security measures such as BIOS password, disabling USB ports, disabling auto-run facility, applying the latest patches of operating system and other softwares, terminal security solution, time-based admin access by August.
“The slow progress on the part of the banks in addressing these issues has been viewed seriously by the RBI,” the central bank said in a circular to heads of banks and white label ATM operators, news agency PTI quoted the RBI circular.
The RBI said that the vulnerability arising from the ATMs operating on unsupported version of operating system and delay in implementing other security measures could hurt customers adversely and damage bank’s image.
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