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Johannesburg - South African banks are not doing enough to look after the security of their clients' bank accounts, said a security specialist.
TG Van Zyl, the founder of financial technology platform BSavi, told Fin24 recently that banks do not make clients adequately aware of the risks of skimming.
"As far as I am concerned, the consumer can only do as much as the banks tell them to do," said Van Zyl, when asked whether enough was being done to highlight the dangers around debit and credit card skimming.
He said that much of the emphasis around security was on internet banking, but that there should be equal awareness about debit and credit cards as the majority of South Africans still use these for transactions.
According to a recent industry release from the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric), there has been an increase in the number of skimming incidents recorded in the last few years as criminals have become smarter about stealing client information.
Sabric CEO Kalyani Pillay advised that skimming devices which clients may not be able to detect are now being mounted on ATMs, and that they should be aware of devices which appear to be attached to the ATMs.
Sabric says 189 hand-held skimming devices and 36 ATM-mounted skimming devices were retrieved throughout the country in 2010. During December 2010, 11 hand-held skimming devices and 3 ATM-mounted devices were retrieved.
Van Zyl has the following advice for banks and their customers:
What banks should do:
1. Place pictures in the ATM to create awareness. The skimming machines are bulky and usually full of foreign fonts and colours that do not match the look and feel of the machines.
2.Promote the option of chipped cards as this is the most secure transaction facility available. Banks are slow in the implementation of the payment card industry (PCI) data security standard introduced by card companies such as Visa and MasterCard.
PCI is applicable to every organisation dealing with credit card payments. Visa and MasterCard provide payment callback options as well as insurance to victims.
3. Offer a security library on bank websites in simple terminology understandable to all.
The banks know the inside problems, and know they are a soft target in terms of technology and physical methods such as card reader and skimming machines.
Current pointers on their websites are a joke, with the same security methods having been promoted over the past five to 10 years while in the meantime fraud activity and technology have advanced.
4. Send notifications via SMS alerts. The majority of banks only send transaction data, amounts and location shopped on the SMS; available balances should also be shown.
5. Make use of authentication servers such as Emue and IBM, which offer new protection technology that has been tested in other countries where the crime rate has declined.
This reduces the number of gadgets you need to carry to authorise the transactions.
How consumers can stay safe:
1. Always keep your stop card close by. I put mine in the back of my cellphone cover.
2. Magstrips on a card is old school. Find out from your bank if they have chip cards available to replace your current card. This chip is a uniquely programmed silicon computer microchip.
- Fin24
TG Van Zyl, the founder of financial technology platform BSavi, told Fin24 recently that banks do not make clients adequately aware of the risks of skimming.
"As far as I am concerned, the consumer can only do as much as the banks tell them to do," said Van Zyl, when asked whether enough was being done to highlight the dangers around debit and credit card skimming.
He said that much of the emphasis around security was on internet banking, but that there should be equal awareness about debit and credit cards as the majority of South Africans still use these for transactions.
According to a recent industry release from the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric), there has been an increase in the number of skimming incidents recorded in the last few years as criminals have become smarter about stealing client information.
Sabric CEO Kalyani Pillay advised that skimming devices which clients may not be able to detect are now being mounted on ATMs, and that they should be aware of devices which appear to be attached to the ATMs.
Sabric says 189 hand-held skimming devices and 36 ATM-mounted skimming devices were retrieved throughout the country in 2010. During December 2010, 11 hand-held skimming devices and 3 ATM-mounted devices were retrieved.
Van Zyl has the following advice for banks and their customers:
What banks should do:
1. Place pictures in the ATM to create awareness. The skimming machines are bulky and usually full of foreign fonts and colours that do not match the look and feel of the machines.
2.Promote the option of chipped cards as this is the most secure transaction facility available. Banks are slow in the implementation of the payment card industry (PCI) data security standard introduced by card companies such as Visa and MasterCard.
PCI is applicable to every organisation dealing with credit card payments. Visa and MasterCard provide payment callback options as well as insurance to victims.
3. Offer a security library on bank websites in simple terminology understandable to all.
The banks know the inside problems, and know they are a soft target in terms of technology and physical methods such as card reader and skimming machines.
Current pointers on their websites are a joke, with the same security methods having been promoted over the past five to 10 years while in the meantime fraud activity and technology have advanced.
4. Send notifications via SMS alerts. The majority of banks only send transaction data, amounts and location shopped on the SMS; available balances should also be shown.
5. Make use of authentication servers such as Emue and IBM, which offer new protection technology that has been tested in other countries where the crime rate has declined.
This reduces the number of gadgets you need to carry to authorise the transactions.
How consumers can stay safe:
1. Always keep your stop card close by. I put mine in the back of my cellphone cover.
2. Magstrips on a card is old school. Find out from your bank if they have chip cards available to replace your current card. This chip is a uniquely programmed silicon computer microchip.
- Fin24
