A scientist from Tomsk developed an ATM keypad which scrambles the code

The development of a scientist from Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) became one of the winners of an All-Russian competition to support innovative projects of young scientists and entrepreneurs Umnik to start. Oleg Kachin offered a project of an ATM keypad with high secrecy of input that allows protecting bank customers from the PIN number theft.

Oleg Kachin is an Associate Professor of Electric Drive and electronic equipment department of TPU. He proposed a new way to enter a sequence of characters in the electronic devices. The essence of the method is to use a keyboard with a limited viewing angle of the keys and a random distribution of characters and their corresponding functions.

All this will protect cardholders from common scams.

The proposed method of covert entry of a sequence is based on the synergistic effect of the combination of two existing methods of protection, each of which has its drawbacks. The first is that the limited viewing angle of marks by placing special lens through which the buttons on the ATM keyboard are visible only at certain angles. The second way is the random distribution of symbols on the keyboard’s keys for each new entry session.