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Volatile ATM Strikes Back Against Human Operators

by Warren Riddle on July 14, 2009 at 02:28 PM


South African crooks have recently focused their attention on Absa Bank, one of the African nation's largest financial institutions, by bombing several of the company's ATMs during the last year. In the Western Cape region, a popular tourist destination, authorities also claim to have identified approximately 40 data-stealing card-skimmers at various ATMs.

To protect its machines -- and inflict a little street-corner retribution on the ATM miscreants -- Absa installed cameras and pepper spray canisters on 11 machines in the Cape, according to IOL. If someone attempts to manipulate the card slot, hook up a skimming device, or plant explosives on one of the machines, the camera is designed to detect the activity and deploy a cloud of pepper spray. Recently, the plan was theoretically executed to perfection in the town of Fish Hoek, but the recipients of the pepper spray burst were innocent maintenance workers instead of attempted thieves. The repairmen had to seek immediate medical attention.

These sprayers might sound like an effective measure of protection, but unless Absa can work out the kinks, it will lose more money in lawsuits than it will to acts of vandalism. Another drawback may be that when the machines begin their inevitable rebellion against human overlords, these devices will play an important role. Way to go, Absa. You've created a machine that can simultaneously disable people physically and financially. [From: IOL, via Wired]

Tags: absa bank, AbsaBank, atm, atm hack, atm skimmers, AtmHack, AtmSkimmers, identity theft, IdentityTheft, pepper spray, PepperSpray, skimming

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