I wish that my bank would let me set a message to pop up whenever withdrawals over a certain amount (or percentage) are made. If we can't be secure, I'd at least like my would-be-account-ruiners to know "LOL STUDENT ACCT". What would be even better is if every time I accessed an ATM it would snap a photo (so many are all recording video anyway) and put it into my account mailbox to view the same way I view checks. That way I could track my facial expression over time as I watch my account go from $XXXX to $XX every time the rent is paid and chart it along with other personal metrics. On the off chance that someone does steal my card/pin/... at least I would be able to shame take a moment shaming them in Photoshop out of... grief?

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This actually got me thinking about a relatively straight-forward way to make ATMs more secure. Many ATMs have cameras and are, presumably, recording each time someone makes a transaction. I don't know exactly how the system works, but here's what I think:

- People who use ATMs should pretty much expect to be recorded in some fashion for security purposes, even if it's just a camera in the corner of the room.

- By using an ATM most people, even the privacy-conscious, would agree to this amount of surveillance. If not, they are welcome to visit their bank during regular business hours, in a ski mask if they prefer, or better yet use the inside of their mattresses instead.

- Adding a camera to a device, particularly one like an ATM, is trivial to implement and should only make a slight difference in cost.

- This camera could also be sensitive to infrared or other bands in order to defeat the ski-mask (thieving) or eye-patch/bandage (handicapped or disfigured) crowds.

- The software could be made such that it only proceeds with certain actions IFF it recognizes that the camera is not being blocked, that it recognizes a face, and that the face is not being spoofed by a Polaroid or something silly.

- ATMs are networked and should be capable of uploading medium resolution photos. Assuming reasonable policies could be maintained, the photo could be sent over the wire directly to your card-issuing institution and then routed to you, perhaps with a 7-days-til-self-destruct mechanism. Obviously you could archive these if you wanted, but the point is that banks/credit companies would treat it the same as security footage, i.e. data glut that's only useful while it's fresh.

- As soon as you are made aware of some sort of fraud, you can simply report the transaction, with identifying snap, to the bank (who will hand it over to authorities).

I'll leave the potential problems of this system to your imaginations, but it seems to me like a fairly easy to adopt solution to small, regular ATM theft. Obviously a coordinated attack could perhaps find some sort of exploit, but maybe it could deter the small-timers enough to be worth it.

EDIT: I am aware that this doesn't solve any of the particulars in the article, but I still think it's "on topic" since we all like tech, and ATMs are tech :)