Thermal Print Scanning Attacks in Theretail Environments

The residual heat left by fingers on a PIN pad may breach the confidentiality of the card access codes. With over five billion chip-enabled cards across the globe, thermal imaging attack may create new crime avenue. This paper studies various vectors of thermal image attacks on PIN pad terminals with the main goal to outline potential controls to prevent such attacks. Previous research work confirms that the success of attack depends upon various factors like camera angle, camera-to-PIN pad distance, time between key punching and image taken, and the room temperature. These factors have been revisited as per the potential attack scenarios in a typical retail setup to find adoptable countermeasures. The research suggested deterring and preventive controls against thermal image attack on PIN terminals with emphasis on the applicability of these controls. The control measures such as the use of on-demand virtual keyboard and redesigned curved PIN pad terminal have been studied in details as an extra layer in physical security.