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ATMs Susceptible to Windows Viruses

Posted by michael on from the hide-money-under-mattress dept.

Kernkraft400 writes "First there was Windows for Warships, now the same operating system used to power millions of home PCs is likely to be used for cash machines in the UK. I can't wait for the next Windows virus or worm to take down all the cash machines."

5 of 403 comments (clear)

  1. (Very) old news by Space+cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Windows has been used on (at least) Natwest ATM's for a loooong time - several years at least. I've been in several situations where an ATM is displaying a Blue Screen Of Death. Interestingly enough, they show a trend for solidarity in these matters, when one of set is down, they're all down... Presumably the weakness is in the network layer, or some component that is attached to it.

    Not that this means too much (apart from the annoyance factor) though, I've never lost any money due to an ATM crash - I'm pretty sure the system is designed so that the central machine does all the secure stuff, with the ATM being not much more than a calculator keypad.

    Simon

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
  2. Already happened... by Samir+Gupta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Slammer worm caused significant outages in Bank of America's ATMs.

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    -- Samir Gupta, Ph. D. Head, New Technology Research Group, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Kyoto, Japan.
  3. WTF? Where is the article? by jdreed1024 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Perhaps I missed something, where is the article that says ATMs are susceptible to Windows Viruses? All I see is a pointer to an article on battleships, and someone's speculation.

    Now, ATMs running Windows could very well be susceptible to viruses, but something backing that up would be nice.

    --
    There is no sig, there is only Zuul.
  4. Re:It's bound to happen by red+floyd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Actually, 3.51 had a reputation for being relatively bulletproof.

    Remember, they hadn't moved everything into the kernel yet. Even GDI and video drivers were userland. And, of course, they hadn't yet "integrated" Insecure Exploder into the system either, I don't even think IE existed then (NT4 shipped with IE2).

    --
    The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
  5. Remote exploits, not viruses by Surur · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Lets be clear here, its not viruses we worry about. Nobody is going to run Kazaa on their local ATM. Its all about possible remote exploits.

    No OS is completely bug free and secure for ever. If the network the ATM's connect to is safe, the box should be safe. If they connect to the internet, I'm moving my money to another bank, no matter what OS they run!

    Surur

    --
    Information is the location of things. Computation is moving things around.