Taking just 5 seconds to inspect any credit/debit card readers before you swipe could end up saving you from identity and credit card theft. I’ll show you what to look for before you swipe your next card. The con is called skimming. Skimming works by retrofitting a perfectly legitimate card reader (like an ATM) with a camouflaged counterfeit card reader. The counterfeit reader records all of your card’s information as it passes through. To give you an idea of what we are dealing with, here is a picture of an ATM with a skimmer overlaid on to the slot where you insert your card and a micro camera hidden behind a bogus white plastic piece above the PIN keypad. This ATM was reported to police on September 6, 2008.
Image is Courtesy of Naples Police Department:
Would you have known it was stealing card data? The purpose of this blog is to educate you on how to identify a skimmer. To that end I’ve compiled a portfolio of example photos made up of both basic and advanced skimmers. It is by no means all inclusive but should give you a heads up on what to look out for the next time you go to swipe your card.
Jamey Heary, CCIE No. 7680, is the author of the Cisco NAC Appliance: Enforcing Host Security with Clean Access book by Cisco Press. Jamey is a seasoned security technologist with over 15 years in the IT field with 10 years focused on IT security. His areas of expertise include network and host security design and implementation, security regulatory compliance, and routing and switching. His other certifications include CISSP, CCSP, and Microsoft MCSE. He is also a Certified HIPAA Security Professional. Jamey is currently a Security Consulting Systems Engineer with Cisco, though the opinions expressed here are his own. Jamey is a member of Network World's Cisco Subnet blog community.
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Credit Card Skimming
Great Article,
Pictures Were Interesting and Somewhat Scary, Especially the Over KeyPad Buttons
Thanks from Josh
Add larger pictures?
I'm reading this on a 1900x1200 screen. The article is fascinating and extremely pertinent (obviously, heh), but the pictures are EXTREMELY hard to see on my screen. Are there larger images that could be linked to for the benefit of those on the mega-screens to be able to see the tiny bits that are being shown and pointed to?
your monitor resolution
Why not just drop your resolution down and view the article at 1024x768?
1900x1200
With all browsers, you can use CTRL-+ and CTRL-- to zoom in and zoom out. Web site designers have to optimize for common screen sizes. Netbook users would object to larger photos.
I think that's why he
I think that's why he requested that they be linked rather than inline -- a common practice being that the inline image is a link to a larger version of itself.
image size
Sorry I don't have any larger images to share. All images on NW must be 450x350 in size. It is something I also would like changed.
-Jamey
The image on page 8 is not
The image on page 8 is not an msr just fyi.
MSR
Yeah it actually is an MSR.
-Jamey
MagnePrint
Magtek has a technology that will detect skimmed cards by reading the underlying magnetic fingerprint
http://www.magtek.com/docs/99875243.pdf
That's not a card cleaner.
That's not a card cleaner. It looks nothing like the one I used today.
Oh, crap!