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(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Jun 25th 2010 3:31pm




Filed Under:
atm, security


Once Again, Bank ATMs Are Not Very Secure

from the well,-duh dept

A few years ago, we discussed how bank ATM's just aren't very secure, despite the belief by many that they were. That discussion revolved around the fact that many people often compare bank ATMs to e-voting (in part because Diebold was a big player in both businesses). It looks like more and more folks are realizing the same thing. Some security researchers are about to release their evidence on just how easy it is to hack bank ATMs. And, of course, if security researchers are talking about it now, you can be pretty sure that hackers already figured this out a while ago.

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    Anonymous Coward, Jun 25th, 2010 @ 3:37pm

    "Some security researchers are about to release their evidence on just how easy it is to hack bank ATMs."

    Faster than a broadband download. More powerful than a mainframe. Able to breach corporate firewalls in a single click. It's a proxy. It's a botnet. It's SUPERHACKER.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

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    lavi d (profile), Jun 25th, 2010 @ 3:59pm

    Old News

    Anyone who ever watched "Terminator II" knows how easy it is to hack an ATM.

    Sheesh.

     

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    Anonymous Coward, Jun 25th, 2010 @ 4:27pm

    blah blah blah mindless scare mongering about tech...

    you know banks are not very secure either, anyone can walk in with a gun and rob the place, rednecks with chains have pulled ATM's out of walls and driven off with them...

    whats the difference

     

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      DocMenach (profile), Jun 25th, 2010 @ 4:42pm

      Re:

      Well, if you had an ounce of reading comprehension you might have noticed that he framed the whole thing in the context of the fact that many people compare electronic voting systems with ATMs under the idea that ATMs are the pinnacle of security.

       

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      lfroen (profile), Jun 26th, 2010 @ 11:44pm

      Re:

      Absolutely. Scare mongering in its best: linked article provide no, not even one (sic!) technical details on so-called "hacking". Or maybe did those "researchers" just used chainsaw to cut the thing?
      People don't rob banks every day (or steal other things) not because banks (or other people houses) are so secure. People don't rob/steal/murder because it's wrong. "Thou shell not steal", remember?
      And even technically, ATM are match more secure than e-voting machines, because banks have all incentives and resources in the world to make them so. Hardly situation with voting machines.

       

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    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jun 25th, 2010 @ 4:56pm

    "One potential route of attack is via communications ports that are sometimes accessible from outside an ATM, Moss said."

    This is brain-dead simple and has existed since the dawn of computing. If someone has physical access, they have your data. The only way around this is heavy encryption that exists on and from point to point, transport, and survives regular audits, and hopefully changing 2-factor authentication methods.

    I can guarantee you fewer than 5% of bank ATM's are getting monthly audits for security eavesdropping/vulnerabilities.

    I never use a public ATM, (or any computer terminal beyond public browsing sites.) It costs less than $5 for hardware PS/2 USB keylogging on any library terminal, for example.

     

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    Hugh Guiney (profile), Jun 25th, 2010 @ 8:24pm

    "And, of course, if security researchers are talking about it now, you can be pretty sure that hackers already figured this out a while ago."

    Security researchers and hackers are the same people. :P

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]


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