Chip and pin

Chip & pin shot

02 OCTOBER 2007

NEW SECURITY GUIDANCE FOR CHIP & PIN

UPFRONT, NEWS, NOVEMBER 2006, COMMENTS

The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) has published guidelines to security issues surrounding the use of Chip and PIN technology. Since the introduction of Chip and PIN, which is now present in 770,000 outlets across the country, a huge reduction in fraud levels (£36 million in the six months January to June 2005 compared with the same period in 2004) has been effected. But it has also created issues with regard to the use of CCTV such as the positioning of CCTV cameras where PIN details can be recorded. The BSIA believe that the net can be tightened further.

“CCTV has long been an essential tool for retailers in the fight against business crime,” says BSIA CCTV Section Chairman, Pauline Norstrom. “The BSIA’s new guidelines respond to the issues surrounding CCTV by highlighting key areas in the installation and use of CCTV that retailers and the general public should be made aware of in order to protect the integrity of the Chip and PIN process.”

The critical areas covered include the positioning of Chip and PIN terminals (both static and mobile); CCTV at the point of sale, particularly the location of fixed cameras so PIN information cannot be clearly identified; how cameras used for transaction monitoring should be handled; and the need to ensure that the pre-set positions of moveable cameras are not going to capture a customer’s PIN information.

The BSIA’s Chip and PIN guidelines are available to download from www.bsia.co.uk/download.html

From: November 2006 Issue

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