Has chip and pin had its day?

Go to a cash machine in Japan or Poland and there's a good chance you'll find a finger-sized scanner next to the keypad.

The pattern of veins inside your finger is said to be more distinctive than your fingerprint, and is being heralded by some experts as a more secure alternative to the chip and pin (Personal Identification Number) card system currently favoured by British banks.

Electronics giant Hitachi already manufactures a PC-compatible finger vein scanner, which is about the size of a computer mouse and contains LED lights and a video camera.

Currently retailing online for £195 plus VAT each, they are not a cheap option.

"It is the fastest and most accurate technology we've seen to date," said Roberto Fiorentino, chief executive of British firm Croma Security Solutions, which has fitted finger vein-based security systems in UK hotels, airports and most recently a police armoury.

"I have no doubt we will see this technology operating in banks - and perhaps cash machines - in the UK High Street in the future."

A trial currently underway at Southampton General Hospital's intensive care ward has so far shown that health conditions such as high and low blood pressure do not seem to affect a patient's finger vein pattern to the extent that they become unrecognizable.

'Cover your pin'

By installing a small digital camera above a cash machine criminals can literally watch people keying in their pin codes to access their accounts. They then trap the accompanying cards in the machine, sometimes using metal loops or false sleeves - to recover afterwards.

"The best tip I can ever give anybody is cover your pin," said DCI Carter. "It prevents so much fraud."

American cash machines still read data from a magnetic strip on the back of cash cards, so UK cards also have to contain this strip so that they can be used abroad.

A cloned card can then be made fairly easily without the owner even realising the data has been taken.According to Mr Krebs, who has blogged extensively about the various kit used by criminals in the US to target cash machines- they can skim the data contained on that magnetic strip just by using a cheap MP3 player - although more complex software is then required to decode it.

A PIN capture device seen by American security expert Brian Krebs

"Anything with a magnetic strip on it can be wiped and re-encoded," said Mr Krebs.

From BBC News