“Researchers from UCSD have demonstrated how thermal imagery cameras can be used to steal customers’ PINs (PDF) when you withdraw cash from ATMs. Their paper, entitled ‘Heat of the Moment: Characterizing the Efficacy of Thermal Camera-Based Attacks’, (PDF) discovered that plastic PIN pads were the best for retaining heat signatures showing which numbers (and in which order) were used by bank customers. Fortunately the methodology does not appear to have been used by criminals yet, but a third of people surveyed admit that they do not check ATMs for tampering before withdrawing cash.”
http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/08/17/1416244/How-To-Steal-ATM-PINs-With-a-Thermal-Camera
Related:
The paper showed how an ATM customer’s pressing down keys of a code number gives these cameras the ability to catch the numbers from residual heat left behind from the user’s fingertips.