BANKING ON SECURITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST WITH DEDICATED MICROS

The company currently counts 10 major banks in Bahrain, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia among its customers, and the largest has nearly 1000 systems installed. The cornerstone of Dedicated Micros’ success in the financial sector is its stability due to the fact that the technology is embedded in the actual surveillance equipment, rather than PC-based, which have the reputation of crashing without warning.

Tackling ATM Fraud

The safe operation of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) pose the greatest security challenge since their accessibility makes them a convenient target. It is surveillance solutions, specifically remotely accessible DVRs, that are at the very heart of efforts to address this threat. A prime example is Dedicated Micros DV-IP ATM solution, which is based on NetVu Connected technology and is compact enough to fit within the confines of an ATM. The DV-IP ATM interface can be customized to support any language—in the Middle East it has an Arabic menu and can capture ATM transaction data in Arabic as well.

Networked ATM Surveillance in Action

A large bank in the Middle East, which has already started to reap the practical benefits of this technology, had been suffering increasing losses as a result of ATM fraud. The attacks included card skimming, credit/debit card fraud and fraudulent transactions, and involved violent theft against staff carrying out maintenance on the ATMs. The situation was starting to grab the headlines in the local media—creating a public relations problem for the company that potentially scared away its customers. In addition, the losses were also starting to have a negative impact on its insurance premiums.

A Pressing Requirement

The bank’s existing security measures, a door entry system and panic alarms for tellers at an individual branch level, were simply not up to the task of dealing with the growing criminal threat. There was only a basic analog CCTV system and the IT network was not being used to transmit security information to a central location from the 400 widely dispersed bank branches.

The bank determined that the DV-IP ATM—a networked surveillance solution from Dedicated Micros—best suited its needs given the geographical spread of its branches. A traditional standalone CCTV recording system for each branch would simply not have delivered the flexibility or responsiveness that was required. By contrast, our solution is smoothly integrated into the bank’s security system through its IP-enabled computer network.

The solution had to be able to prioritize the network traffic associated with financial transactions to take precedence over security images. The DV-IP ATM is able to record evidence quality MJPEG images locally while it simultaneously supports low bit rate data streaming in MPEG-4 compression format for remote viewing. This advantageous feature keeps bandwidth demands on the network to an absolute minimum. The local recording feature also safeguards data so that if a network failure occurs, recording is not interrupted.

The requirement to deliver a safe working environment and secure cash withdrawal facilities resulted in the installation of cameras in each of the bank’s ATMs with images recorded locally by the DV-IP ATM fitted to each machine. The capability to display the camera view from the ATM on local spot monitors acts as a high profile visual deterrent to potential perpetrators and instils confidence that the bank is committed to the welfare of its customers and staff.

Applied as part of the solution, the Dedicated Micros’ specialized ATM Interface decodes Diebold protocol transaction data - without interfering with communication to the bank’s mainframe computer - and then processes and reformats this information so it can be passed to the DV-IP ATM unit itself for recording with video footage. Sensitive details are not captured - only the relevant part of the data is actually saved with each image. In addition to Diebold, the ATM Interface Module is compatible with a wide range of bank systems and ATM systems.

When it comes to customer disputes, the potential to link metadata to images and apply text search engines for post-event analysis is certainly a powerful tool for the bank. Staff can handle customer queries regarding ATM transactions in a timely and positive manner, whether it concerns one machine or across a number of ATMs, by simply inputting specific search parameters, such as the customer’s account number, to call up images.

Security staff were also given the capability to retrieve relevant CCTV video footage on demand from any point on the bank’s IT network, enabling them to focus on suspicious criminal activity and take appropriate action. It was important that the system could provide the evidence necessary for the police to address the fraudulent use of cash and credit cards, and help bank staff deal with genuine customer questions over cash withdrawals. The internal storage capacity of each DV-IP ATM unit ensures that six months of on-line video is available. In addition the DV-IP ATM systems are automatically FTP configured to download events of interest every 30 minutes from each branch to a central server.

Finally, now when a panic button is activated, the DV-IP ATM automatically connects to the bank’s new dedicated Central Control Room. Associated bi-directional audio facilities allow two-way communication with the site and, crucially, the vital audio is recorded and stored with the associated video images and indexed for rapid retrieval.

Making the Right Connection

A key benefit of the new ATM security infrastructure for the bank is the ability to make the centralized monitoring of over 400 branches an economically viable proposition. It is possible to simply use the existing IT network to transmit video to a control room (or PC in a branch) for live viewing, review and advanced transaction text searching on demand.

The results for the bank have been impressive. Already video evidence has been provided to the police of criminals attaching card skimming devices to ATM machines. The threat faced by the bank’s ATM service teams has been significantly reduced, with the likelihood that staff turnover and absence due to the trauma caused by incidents will fall in the long term. For prospective customers, the bank’s withdrawal facilities can be promoted as safe and secure, while existing customers benefit from the rapid resolution of withdrawal disputes, with branch customer advisers having information at hand to bring the vast majority of cases to a successful conclusion.

For more information on Dedicated Micros or any of its products, please call 800-864-7539 or visit www.dedicatedmicrosus.com.