The Siliguri Metropolitan Police (SMP) has asked banks to upgrade the alarm system at ATM kiosks, which are unguarded. The kiosks with guards should also have a proper alarm system, it has said. The police have suggested a slew of measures for ATMs in the wake of a sophisticated cyber attack at ATMs in Kolkata.

Police have called this the ‘Man-in-the-Middle’ attack, in which fraudsters are suspected to have disconnected ATMs from the bank servers by setting up proxy servers, before withdrawing the money. Siliguri police commissioner Gaurav Sharma today held a meeting with representatives of various banks in connection with the safety and security of ATMs and the recent incidents of hacking.

Mr Sharma said police stations will do a profiling of various ATM counters with their geographic locations. Police patrolling teams will check them during various hours for safety and security.

“We have requested banks to revamp the alarm systems of offsite ATMs, which are unguarded. Police control room number should be provided in the auto dialer to enable quick response by police. There should be proper alarm systems even in those (ATMs) which are guarded. It should be ensured that the CCTV cameras installed at the ATMs should be properly functional and footage should be shared with the police immediately on demand for investigations in case of any crime,” Mr Sharma said.

According to him, the officer-in-charge of the Cyber Crime Police station will be the nodal officer, who could be approached by banks for quick reporting of online fraud.

“All new mechanisms of online fraud should be shared by banks with the SMP through the officer for quick redressal,” he said. “A police station-based security review meeting will be held once in a month between inspectors-in-charge or officers- in-charge and senior most representatives of banks of that area to sort out any security or safety issue,” Mr Sharma added.

It has been decided that a technical team of banks will separately meet senior police officers in a day or two to discuss measures for preventing and detecting any hacking of ATMs. The helpline number of banks should also be displayed at the ATMs to help people report any crime immediately, the police have said. Mr Sharma said the SMP will run campaigns to make people aware of online and offline bank fraud and on ways to avoid them.