Secret Service Issues Warning On New ATM Skimmer Technology

According to the influential website Krebs On Security, the U.S. Secret Service has issued a warning about a new type of ATM skimming device.

Dubbed "periscope," the skimming device attaches directly on to the ATM's circuit board to steal customer data from a card's magstripe. Once installed, the periscope scans and stores the numbers of cards for download at a later date.

The security alert, which was not made public, is said to document the first known case of periscope skimming in the United States, discovered on Aug. 19 at an ATM in Greenwich, CT. A second periscope skimmer was reportedly found hidden inside a cash machine in Pennsylvania on Sept. 3.

At present, it is not clear how the thieves gained access to the machines to install the device.