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  • Fraud Prevention
  • Payment
  • United States

Bluetana: New App for Fighting Skimmers

FACTS

  • Researchers from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the University of California, San Diego, designed a mobile app for detecting Bluetooth-enabled card skimmers wirelessly.
  • Goals: allow for faster detection and avoid flagging false positives.
  • Issue: Hackers typically install card skimmers in ATM card slots and card readers at gas stations. These devices may rely on Bluetooth connection to read the card’s magnetic stripe when a legitimate cardholder withdraws cash or makes a transaction, then exfiltrating their card data.
  • The new app called Bluetana detects these skimmers in less than 30 seconds.
  • How it works?
    • When crafting Bluetana, they relied on observations from a research study analysing Bluetooth connections to these devices, or a collection of scans at 1,185 gas stations in 6 US States.
    • These results were then combined with location-based information.
    • Every time an operation was conducted, the Bluetooth device's unique MAC address is compared with a list of prefixes used in skimming devices recovered by law enforcement.
    • The app also uses signal strength as to determine if a Bluetooth-enabled skimmer is nearby.
  • Bluetana has already been tested by law enforcement forces but hasn’t yet been made commercially available.

ENJEUX

  • Everyday danger. ATM attacks are lucrative sources of income for criminals: more cases are then observed. According to a study by the University of California, with one skimmer, they could earn $4,253/day on average.
  • More efficiency. Several other apps designed to find pump skimmers are already available, but they often fail not to trigger false positives due, for instance, to multiple nearby connections including for speed-limit signs and fleet tracking systems. Bluetana is able to detect more skimmers while addressing the issue of distinguishing false positives.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

  • A year ago, 44 volunteers from law enforcement forces and state employees were equipped with the Bluetana app to run a pilot phase. The app allowed for the detection of 64 fraudulent devices. It also cut down detection time from several minutes to a few seconds.
  • In light of this successful test phase, the app is expected to be installed at several gas stations in 2020.