Online publishing and citation success in the accounting, business and economic history of Spain, 1997–2011

This paper examines the factors determining the citation success of authors who have published via the Internet on the economic and business history of Spain. It departs from the dominant cross-sectional approach to the quantitative assessment of citation success by using a 15-year time series analysis of peer-reviewed Spanish and Latin American outlets. Moreover, it considers working papers published online, and assesses the role of Spanish as a medium to communicate with an international audience. Our results suggest a high concentration of publications and citations for a small number of authors (including non-residents) and the importance of local journals in citation success. Besides offering suggestions on how to improve scientific impact, our citation analysis also sheds light on the state of the field of economic and business history in Spanish economic circles and attests the role of Spain as an intermediate country in the production and diffusion of scientific knowledge

Your pin sounds good! augmentation of pin guessing strategies via audio leakage

Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) are widely used as the primary authentication method for Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and Point of Sale (PoS). ATM and PoS typically mitigate attacks including shoulder-surfing by displaying dots on their screen rather than PIN digits, and by obstructing the view of the keypad. In this paper, we explore several sources of information leakage from common ATM and PoS installations that the adversary can leverage to reduce the number of attempts necessary to guess a PIN. Specifically, we evaluate how the adversary can leverage audio feedback generated by a standard ATM keypad to infer accurate inter-keystroke timing information, and how these timings can be used to improve attacks based on the observation of the user\u2019s typing behavior, partial PIN information, and attacks based on thermal cameras. Our results show that inter-keystroke timings can be extracted from audio feedback far more accurately than from previously explored sources (e.g., videos). In our experiments, this increase in accuracy translated to a meaningful increase in guessing performance. Further, various combinations of these sources of information allowed us to guess between 44% and 89% of the PINs within 5 attempts. Finally, we observed that based on the type of information available to the adversary, and contrary to common knowledge, uniform PIN selection is not necessarily the best strategy. We consider these results relevant and important, as they highlight a real threat to any authentication system that relies on PINs

Emergence and evolution of ATM networks in the UK, 1967-2000

Research in this article traces the origins of a process of competitive change in British retail financial markets by looking at the emergence of cash dispensers technology, how it transformed into automated teller machines (ATMs) and how proprietary ATM networks gave way to total interoperability of cash withdrawals through a single common switch. Cash dispensers were an industry-specific innovation developed by British manufacturers (e.g. Chubb and De La Rue) which were, in turn, overtaken by US (e.g. NCR) and German (e.g. Siemens-Wincor) manufacturers. However, as the ATM became a global technology some of the leading providers (i.e. Burroughs, IBM and NCR) kept manufacturing and even their main design facilities in Scotland. The evolution of this technology illustrates changing boundaries of the banking organisation, the challenges faced by financial intermediaries to adopt on-line, real-time computing and highlights the role of network externalities in financial markets. From a business history perspective, the ATM, electronic funds transfer and other retail payment media have largely been neglected by British historians and management scholars. Yet the success of automated cash dispensers as a distribution channel in retail banking epitomises a shift in bank strategy, namely how applications of computer technology moved from being potential sources of competitive advantage to being a minimum requirement for effective competition in retail finance. This article thus promotes the idea that the history of technology must consider its users, their strategies and business models inasmuch as business histories of the late twentieth century will be incomplete without attention to developments in information and communications technologies.banks, building societies, cash dispensers, ATM, technological innovation, diffusion, UK, networks, payment systems,

Origins and development of SWIFT, 1973–2009

Research in this article traces the origins of a not-for-profit financial institution called the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). SWIFT is a core part of the financial services infrastructure and is widely regarded as the most secure trusted third party network in the world, serving 200 countries with over 8000 users. The analysis focuses on how the design and current state of SWIFT was influenced by its historical origins. In order to ensure widespread compatibility in a sector experiencing asynchronous technological development, legacy Telex specifications had to be accommodated in SWIFT's design. Over time, what began as a closed ‘society’ founded to reduce errors and increase efficiency in interbank payments grew into an industry cooperative supporting an enthusiastic community of practice and transformed into an unexpected network phenomenon. SWIFT achieved such success that it has been accused of being an installed base stifling innovation. In recent years, SWIFT has had to institute new categories of membership in an effort to counter concerns about its bank-dominated governance and it continues to search for ways to meet the requirements of key constituents in the financial supply chain

Self-guardianship at automated teller machines

Automated teller machines (ATMs) are central to the functioning of developed economies, but by their very nature operate without human supervision, making them vulnerable to criminal abuse. This study sought to understand how customers protect themselves from theft while using ATMs. Observations of and surveys with ATM customers were used to identify how individuals protect themselves from theft of cash, card or personal details while using an ATM. The most common self-guardianship measure was to use only ATMs believed to be safe. The majority of customers did not cover the ATM keypad while entering their personal identification number (PIN), despite long-running publicity campaigns encouraging this behaviour. This suggests that self guardianship is important at ATMs, but many customers fail to take even basic measures to protect themselves, their money and their bank details from theft. Banks and crime-prevention practitioners should do more to facilitate and encourage self guardianship at ATMs