The European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), part of Europol, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with EAST, the European ATM Security Team.
It’s for cooperation against all types of payment crime, ncluding card-not-present fraud, card present fraud, hi-technology crime, as well as ATM malware and physical attacks.
Europol’s Deputy Director of Operations, Wil van Gemert, said: “Europol’s EC3 is pleased to further increase the cooperation with EAST, creating further capacity to combat the threats of payment crime. We look forward to a continued engagement and cooperation with EAST and its stakeholders combating new payment industry threats.”
Lachlan Gunn, EAST Executive Director, said: “Europol attended our inaugural meeting in February 2004 and we have been working closely together since then. The signing of this agreement further strengthens this relationship. Over the past 11 years ATM related payment card fraud has been the major fraud issue faced by many of our national members, but logical and malware attacks are now recognised as an increasing threat. Our national members represent 31 countries, with a total of 655,398 ATMs, and our working relationship with the European Cybercrime Centre is of great strategic importance to both the public and private sector.”
The MoU allows Europol and EAST to exchange strategic data and other non-operational information. One of EAST’s national member meetings (out of three each year) is hosted by Europol. The 36th EAST Meeting was at Europol’s headquarters in The Hague.
Europol says that it recognises the severity of the threat presented by ATM logical and malware attacks and has prepared guidelines regarding this threat to ATMs. The production of this document has been coordinated by the EAST Expert Group on ATM Fraud (EGAF), and is a first of its kind.
“The Guidance and recommendations regarding logical attacks on ATMs” which covers also ATM malware attacks, was officially released (to police and the payment/banking industry only) at the second EAST Financial Crime & Security (FCS) Forum on June 11 and 12. Law enforcement and the banks are hoping to respond to ATM malware threats much more quickly than the card skimming threat when it first materialised. The first ATM malware incidents were reported in Western Europe in 2014. According to EAST statistics, these were ‘cash out’ or ‘jackpotting’ attacks. In 2014, 51 such incidents were reported, with what the authorities describe as significant losses.
And meanwhile the European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sportradar, a company behind fraud detection software to combat match fixing in European sport.
Under the terms of the MoU, both parties will exchange expertise, statistical data, information and/or trends as they relate to sporting integrity. The two parties will now begin exploring projects that they can collaborate on or support each other on.
After the official signing, Europol’s Deputy Director, Wil van Gemert said: “In order to try and stop match fixing stakeholders from many different areas need to work closely together. I look forward to our cooperation with Sportradar, and the aim is to make it more difficult for match fixers and manipulators to hide.”
And Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl said: “Europol have long played an active role in discussions, projects and investigations around the issue of match-fixing. The recent Operation VETO that they led with the involvement of police teams from 13 European countries identified 425 individuals suspected of fixing 380 matches across 15 countries! Their commitment to stamping this scourge out is self-evident. The fact that we have today signed this agreement to share information and collaborate on projects is a huge distinction for our security services and our fraud detection system. We are in little doubt that working together, in the spirit of the Macolin Convention, we will start making further breakthroughs and will continue closing the net on those who would undermine the credibility of the sports we all love and follow.”
