Banks to boost anti-virus protection

Predee Daochai, chairman of the association, said the country’s banks had always striven to ensure security in relation to their automated teller machines, which have been in use in Thailand for 30 years.

After “skimming” attacks by criminals led to cash being illegally taken out of customers’ accounts via ATMs in the past few years, central banks decided to switch from magnetic-stripe cards to chip-based cards to get around the problem.

However, in the recent GSB incident, hackers used a malware attack to infect some of the bank’s ATMs, a method that has also been seen in similar cases in Taiwan and Malaysia, Predee said.

What the banks in Thailand should focus on, therefore, is anti-virus protection against such attacks, he said. 

Meanwhile, the association’s IT club regularly exchanges ideas on improvements in the sector’s information-technology systems, and the GSB incident is not expected to affect the stability of the banking system, he insisted.

He said all banks had measures to look after their ATMs, while there were several machine vendors in the market.

 

Suppliers 

The roughly 60,000 ATMs in Thailand are supplied by three companies, including the local unit of US-based NCR, the vendor of the GSB machines that have been hacked. 

Vites Techangam, senior executive vice president and head of the technology group at Krungthai Bank, said a malware attack could affect any brands of ATM – not only those made by NCR. His bank has around 9,000 ATMs, of which 900 are NCR machines, and it regularly checks that they all working properly and securely, he said.

 The malware used in attacks on ATMs is similar to that which attacks laptops or personal computers, hence the owner has to upgrade its anti-virus protection regularly, he stressed.

Thanachart Bank chief financial officer Anuwat Luengtaweekul said the recent incident was part of the security learning curve for the banking sector.

The bank has a system of both physical and technical checks of its ATMs to ensure that all 2,000 machines are secure, he said. 

ATMs should not located in risky areas that might make them particularly susceptible to thieves and cyber-hackers, and in the case of standalone ATMs, the installation of lighting and cameras is essential, he said.

While banks are always going to be the targets of attempted fraud, what they can do is limit the risk that they take, Anuwat said, adding that strictly controlling the amount of cash that is put into an ATM is one example of sensible risk management.

The Nation yesterday contacted NCR (Thailand), the supplier of ATMs to the GSB, by telephone. Its managing director said the company was discussing the matter and would provide a detailed statement at a press conference soon.