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Periscope Skimmers Prove Newest Threat to Card Users

September 19, 2016         By: Steven Anderson

If your mobile payments method of choice involves a card in some way, then this is a report to watch, as no less than the Secret Service released information on this one.

The newest threat to monitor is called “periscope skimmers,” and these are harder to find than you might think.

The periscope skimmer is a small device placed inside an ATM or similar system, usually right at the card reader point.

The system can the make a record of card data contained on the magnetic stripe on the card, and since the device both comes with a battery and a storage drive, the system can run largely autonomously for as long as two weeks at a clip.

The device has storage sufficient to hold up to 32,000 numbers, reports note, so this could represent a disturbingly wide-scale possibility afoot.

There is some good news here; the devices can’t access customer PINs, and it’s actually fairly easy to beat many common types of skimmer by just placing a hand over the number pad on the cash dispenser, according to reports.

However, some are wondering if these aren’t really being used to seize information ahead of something much larger and much more unpleasant.

Further reports note that the ATMs most at risk for such attack are those with lids that open, as these are most likely to be accessed by such users. Therefore, staying away from stand-alone ATMs and sticking to those versions built into walls are most likely to be safer.

This might well be a problem for credit or debit card users, especially those who interact with ATMs with any kind of regularity.

It could also be a problem for devices like gas pumps, and may well hurt the entire credit / debit card concept outside of users’ homes.

That comes at a bad time for cards in general, especially as the Europay / Mastercard / Visa (EMV) concept is proving to do more harm than good, slowing down systems and delivering a terrible customer experience overall.

While it’s probably a bridge too far to say that periscope skimmers will kill credit cards, it likely will turn out to be one more straw on that camel’s back. It may only be a matter of time until mobile payment systems step in to take over for credit cards altogether.