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by faitswulff 2905 days ago
This is a fairly well known attack on ATMs with plastic keys, but last I heard metal keys make it nearly impossible to carry out.
4 comments

Whenever possible I type in the PIN with a house key or car key. That way there's little, if not none at all, heat left behind and I don't have to contact a germ-laden touchpad. #germaphobe
replace ATM with the CC terminal in your favorite foodtruck then. this is even better, since you're not likely to type in a withdrawal amount into those (and thus adding noise by pressing more keys)

same thing goes, but they're rarely made of metal

A debit card can be used as a credit card at a CC terminal. No PIN and no transaction fee. I don't think you'll find many people typing a PIN into a CC terminal in the wild.
AFAIK it's mostly in the US that using cards don't always require PINs. Here in Canada I have to enter my PIN whether it's my credit or debit card, for every purchase at a CC terminal. The only exception is if I'm using contactless payment. This was also true in Europe last I checked.
All the time in the EU, except if the card has NFC, then without PIN up to 20€ (depending on the bank).
Well you still have to get the order right, though it might be possible to have an idea through the temperature differences
Yeah metal reflects thermal IR like a mirror.
It also generates IR by itself. It wouldn't be a big problem to carry out the attack, as long as the keypad isn't reflecting any strong IR source towards the camera.