Solution Topics

ATMs and Video Surveillance

Topic: ATM (Automated Teller Machine)

In the past twenty years ATMs have grown from a novel innovation to a standard part of our everyday lives. People love the speed and convenience of ATMs for quick transactions; banks love the low maintenance costs and need for less personnel to deal with customers. For all of their benefits, however, ATMs can also be very vulnerable to crime, making security a high priority.

Security Threats Facing ATMs

There are many security threats which face ATMs. Some of these are direct, such as a person breaking into the machine and stealing its cash reserves. Certainly this is the biggest fear for many, as large amounts of money must be kept in ATMs without any on-site personnel to provide protection.

Other threats or more indirect, and target ATM customers rather than the bank itself. This includes would-be perpetrators of identity theft, who tamper with ATMs by either placing hidden cameras or ATM skimmers in place to record the private information of ATM users. This data can then be used to steal their account information and give them illegal access to your customers' accounts.

Benefits of Video Surveillance

These security threats to your ATMs can be in many ways mitigated through the use of video surveillance, along with other security precautions. Providing remote monitoring of events going on on site, your security personnel can be kept informed should anything out of the ordinary occur at the ATM. This gives them time to contact the proper authorities in the event of an attempted break-in.

Video surveillance and monitoring can also keep your security personnel in the know on any attempted identity theft scams, and allow your company to remove threats before any of your customers are affected. This protects the integrity of your accounts and gives your customers peace of mind that their hard-earned money is not at risk from identity thieves.

Questions to Ask When Installing a Video Surveillance System

Before installing a video surveillance system for any of your ATM, there are several important questions that you should ask yourself. Answering these question will aid you in making sure you install the right system with the proper capabilities.

Is it a 24 hour ATM? What hours are it operational?
Is it attached to a bank branch, or is it a stand-alone ATM?
Will any security personnel be readily available for the ATM? If so, at what times?
What is surrounding area like? Is it a high-risk or low-risk crime area?

Advice for Security Camera Placement

Because an ATM is small in size, most often only one security camera is all that will be needed. By using only one camera, however, placement will be vital, as there will be no other cameras to fall back to if placement is bad.

Most often the camera should be placed within the machine itself, to provide a full view of all transactions as they occur. Camera should be placed so as to provide a wide view, not only of the machine itself but the surrounding area. If possible, look for ways to link the video surveillance footage with specific transactions, so that video is easy to identify with any individual transaction.

CCTV versus IP Cameras

Traditionally, video surveillance has been done with analog, CCTV cameras. In recent years, however, IP cameras have been steadily gaining on their CCTV predecessors. The reasons for this are many.

Firstly, IP cameras provide a digital signal which can be broadcast quickly over long distances via any network connection. Thus, video can be sent either locally or to any computer with internet access. This digital system also allows for advanced software to be implemented within the camera itself, such as motion detection, facial recognition and much more. These advanced features provide for much more powerful surveillance than that allowed by CCTV cameras.