5,000 ATMs Under Protection: How We Built a Secure Video Recording System for a Bank

Counterfeit banknotes, skimmers, card theft—ATMs are targeted by fraudsters every day. To catch criminals and protect customers, banks rely on video surveillance. But there’s a problem: these recordings cannot be stored in the cloud or sent for storage over the internet—there’s too high a risk of data loss or leakage.

How can banks get instant access to high-quality video from any ATM without compromising security?

One of our clients, a major bank, needed a solution. We developed a system that combines the convenience of cloud-like access with secure local storage—without requiring a stable internet connection.

The Challenge: Secure Video Recording With Remote Access

The bank was rolling out a new line of ATMs equipped with cameras to enhance security and detect fraud.

While fraud detection and AI processing were handled in-house, our job was to:

• Ensure reliable video storage.
• Provide an easy way for employees to access live feeds and recordings—just by entering an ATM’s number or location.
• Enable access via a cellular network, without uploading all the data to the internet.
• Build a scalable system.
• Maximize the use of existing hardware.

We had the flexibility to adjust the hardware setup, but it wasn’t necessary. Our software ran smoothly on the bank’s existing mini-server paired with an Intel RealSense camera.

However, the real challenge was:

• Cellular connectivity is unreliable. Video had to remain accessible in high quality even with weak signal strength.
• Security is critical. Employees needed access, but data leaks had to be impossible.
• Local storage must be protected and fail-safe.

Off-the-shelf surveillance solutions wouldn’t work. Cloud-based services were off-limits, SD cards were unreliable, and upgrading hardware would slow down deployment.

That’s why the bank came to us for a better approach.

The Solution: Watcher NVR

This was an interesting challenge—and one we knew how to solve. Our existing product, Flussonic Watcher, already had:

• Unlimited video archive storage.
• Granular access control with role-based permissions.
• Built-in NAT traversal for remote access.

Building on this foundation, we created Watcher NVR—a system that stores video directly on the ATM while allowing employees to access footage through a secure web interface.

Our software consists of two main components:

Central Portal

• Manages distributed recorders.
• Provides a user-friendly interface with search and playback.
• Controls access and logs audit trails to track who viewed which recordings.

Software Video Recorder

• Runs on existing Linux-based servers (amd64, arm64 architectures supported).
• Stores footage on local disks with software RAID for redundancy and fault tolerance.
• Connects securely to the central server without requiring a VPN.
• Monitors cameras and storage health, automatically reporting issues.

How We Built It

We broke the project into three phases, each building on the previous one:

1. MVP in the office
   • Tested workflows and refined the system on a prototype device.
   • Identified necessary improvements for real-world deployment.
   • Automated setup using Infrastructure as Code (Ansible).
2. Deployment on initial ATMs
   • Installed the system on live devices.
   • Fixed issues that didn’t appear in lab conditions.
   • Gathered feedback from bank operators.
3. Scaling to the full network
   • Rolled out the system to 5,000 ATMs.
   • Improved the player interface and added real-time network quality indicators.

This last phase took the longest because installation teams had to physically replace old ATMs rather than simply updating software on existing devices.

We also made additional refinements, improving the player’s UI and adding indicators to help operators predict export times more accurately.

The Results

1. 5,000 ATMs deployed with Watcher NVR.
2. Synthetic load tests confirmed scalability to 10,000 devices.
3. Project completed and moved into ongoing support.
4. All devices update automatically, with daily deployments.

What’s Next?

Watcher NVR has proven its reliability and is now running in production with seamless updates.

We’re always up for new technical challenges. If you need a secure, high-performance video recording system, get in touch—we’ll find the right solution for you.