ATM PIN Veri?cation via Smartphones: Securing the Future of Digital Banking in Pakistan

Abstract

Plastic money has become the most favoured way of conducting monetary transactions in most developed countries, partly due to the ubiquity and ease of access of Automated Teller Machines, but its use in Pakistan still lags largely behind. While Teller machines offer a great deal of ease when it comes to accessing personal bank accounts, checking balance, paying utility bills or performing Inter/Intra Bank Fund Transfers. However, they also pose numerous critical security challenges. For example, skimming devices only require a 4-digit Personal Identification Number to steal an individual's private information and a teller machine's hardware especially vulnerable to such tactics. This might even lead to identity theft where someone might steal a customer 's account by way of recording their PIN after a valid debit/credit card transaction. This paper identifies such security concerns and suggests a method to make transactions safer and more secure by bypassing the Teller's own vulnerable hardware by way of entering the PIN from the keypad of a user 's Smartphone or handheld device via a bank's digital banking app.