It been revealed that a particular brand of ATM machines can
be hacked and robbed with ease without even touching or being close to
the device.
The
details ain't as simple as it sounds but the ATM are actually Windows
PCs need to be running on XP then it has to be infected with a trojan
virus called Ploutus.
The fraudsters then have to access the
computer (ATM) innards and install their malware and hook it up to a
mobile phone via a USB port and then they have a full control of the
machine
Then all they are now required to do is to send a message
to the planted ATM phone, it then translates the text into a network
packet and sends it to the ATM. Ploutus then transforms the packets into
command-line instructions.
Symantec’s Daniel Regalado said: “It
may seem incredible, but this technique is being used in a number of
places across the world at this time,”
The setup could last for a
very long time if not caught because the phone is plugged in and is
constantly recharging and never runs out of power.
Ploutus
apparently affects only a single brand of ATM, but Symantec has not
released the brand name. It did note that the Trojan, originally written
in Spanish, now has an English-language variant, suggesting that the
criminals behind it might hope to expand their operation.
What is
indisputable is that, as Regalado wrote, “cybercriminals are targeting
ATMs with increasingly sophisticated techniques.” But that would be true
no matter which operating system an ATM runs.
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