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NCR Corp. has sold more than 50,000 license agreements around the world for its APTRA software that prevents internal skimming of ATMs, Sharon Dickie, NCR's vice president of marketing for financial services, tells ATM&Debit News, a CardLine Global sister publication. Internal skimming, or Trojan skimming, takes place when malware, or an unauthorized software code, is installed inside an ATM. Undetected, the malware attacks the Microsoft Windows operating system, which operates most of the world's ATMs. APTRA is NCR's Microsoft Windows self-service platform that contains drivers, tools and programming for basic cash dispensing. The malware either replaces or modifies the manufacturer's authorized software, intercepting card information, including PINs. The data then is sent to thieves who manufacture counterfeit cards and loot cardholders' bank accounts, Dickie says. Internal skimming differs from other common ATM fraud methods. Typically, criminals place phony devices over the ATM's card-acceptance slot to capture card information. Thieves also install miniature cameras near the ATM to record cardholders punching in their four-digit PINs. The largest case of internal skimming so far has occurred in Russia. Diebold Inc., the world's third-largest ATM manufacturer, admitted in January that someone installed malware inside some of its machines, leading to the theft of an undisclosed amount of U.S., Russian and Ukrainian funds. To detect malware intrusions, United States-based NCR, the world's largest ATM manufacturer based on 2007 shipments, sells its APTRA Security Software that includes technology from U.S-based Solidcore Systems Inc., Dickie says. Solidcore's software prohibits the introduction of an unauthorized code to ATMs, protecting the machines from "inside out" skimming attacks, Dickie says. NCR has been selling APTRA software that contains Solidcore for a few years, but Diebold's admission has sparked more sales and interest in APTRA's software that contains Solidcore. "In the past few years, more than 100 banks and credit unions have purchased the software, but in the last year, sales have been growing," Dickie says. Solidcore's multi-vendor technology operates on machines made by all ATM manufacturers.
