Diebold Introduces New Skimming-Protection Solutions to Combat ATM Fraud

NORTH CANTON, Ohio, June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Advancing its 150-year legacy of leadership in the financial and self-service and security industries, Diebold, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD) has introduced a comprehensive portfolio of skimming-protection solutions that help financial institutions mitigate card skimming, one of the largest threats against the automated teller machine (ATM) channel worldwide.

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Designed to provide effective countermeasures against known skimming attack vectors, Diebold's ATM Security Protection Suite consists of anti-skimming packages and an industry-leading outsourced monitoring service. The suite offers five levels of protection to proactively guard against increasingly sophisticated card-skimming attacks.

"As a trusted partner and leader in providing ATM security solutions, Diebold is committed to working with our financial-institution partners to help reduce financial losses and maintain confidence in the ATM channel as a whole," said Chuck Somers, vice president, ATM security and systems, Diebold. "Diebold's comprehensive portfolio of skimming protection solutions represent an advanced generation of technologies and the most innovative anti-skimming expertise in the industry."

Skimmers are devices, often undetectable, that criminals attach to ATM card readers to record the information stored on a card's magnetic stripe – information they subsequently use to create a cloned card and conduct a fraudulent transaction. Diebold's ATM Security Protection Suite offers five levels of anti-skimming solutions to provide financial institutions with options based on the level of protection required. Level one offers basic protection and includes ATM card reader security features specially designed to deter skimmer attachment.

The second level includes Diebold's award-winning skimming-detection technology that generates an alert – directed either to the branch alarm system or to the ATM network monitoring system – when a fraudulent device has been added to the terminal.

Protection levels three and four incorporate the latest and most innovative skimming countermeasure in the industry. By emitting an electromagnetic field to interfere with a skimmer's ability to capture magnetic-stripe data in both motorized and dip card readers, this solution helps prevent the capture of card information. To offer this technology, Diebold has leveraged its self-service and security expertise and has also worked closely with TMD, a Netherlands-based developer of anti-skimming technology.

Protection level five also includes Diebold's ATM SkimmingAlert Monitoring Service, affording customers maximum protection. This monitoring-based solution provides a real-time line of defense featuring an array of customized messaging and response strategies, such as e-mail alerts and text messages from the Diebold Monitoring Center. The service is currently available for financial institutions in North America.

"Diebold's anti-skimming solutions are an integral part of Diebold's ATM Security Protection Suite which takes a holistic approach to self-service security, delivering proactive risk management and protection," Somers said. "Our goal is to provide peace of mind to financial institutions challenged by fraud at the ATM, by allowing them to mitigate risk, preserve their brand equity and maintain the confidence of their customers."

The criminal act of card skimming results in the loss of billions of dollars annually for financial institutions and card holders. Card skimming threatens consumer confidence not only in the ATM channel, but in the financial institutions that own compromised ATMs as well. Understanding the constantly evolving threat to ATM security, Diebold advises financial institutions to deploy a multilayered approach to security at the self-service channel. The company stresses that anti-skimming solutions should constitute just one component in an overall ATM fraud prevention plan.

About Diebold

Diebold, Incorporated is a global leader in providing integrated self-service delivery and security systems and services. Diebold employs more than 16,000 associates with representation in nearly 90 countries worldwide and is headquartered in Canton, Ohio, USA. Diebold is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "DBD." For more information, visit the company's website at www.diebold.com, or visit www.diebold.com/150 to learn more about Diebold's 150-year history.

SOURCE Diebold, Incorporated