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ATMs Susceptible to Windows Viruses
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."
I seem to post this everytime this comes up, but once again. Diebold ATMs run Windows (95,NT and XP depending on how old they are). They have been known to crash to the desktop and often run unpatched. They have been hit by several worms over the years but banks keep on buying the dang things. Here of course is a link to a Diebold ATM running as a MP3 player after it had crashed to the XP desktop (touch screen, XP, built in speakers. Makes sense to me). I will never use a Diebold product, be it ATM or voting booth.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
When I was in Europe this summer, I crashed several ATMs (usually of the same branch) just by inserting my card, and guess what they all run some version of windows, it looked like 95/98/2000.
Aparently they dont like the way my card is encoded.
It was very annoying trying to find a bank where I could withdraw money from. At one point we we're joking around to see how many ATMs we could crash in one day.
Exactly. Will someone please explain to me how it's irresponsible to say you expect someone to get robbed, when that person is using a product that is so insecure that their likelihood of getting robbed is very high?
Suppose there's a car with a numeric keypad on the door to unlock it (like the late 80's/early 90's Fords). Now suppose that it's common knowledge that the factory put in a backdoor code, 1357, which will unlock any such car. Despite this becoming common knowledge, and being stated all over the national news, the manufacturer refuses to remove the backdoor, saying it's so they can help the customers. Now I'm standing in my driveway talking to some friends, and my neighbor Joe pulls into his driveway, with his brand new car which has this keypad. So I say to my friends, "I can't wait until his car gets stolen. What an idiot."
Was that an irresponsible thing to say? I don't think so. Joe was stupid to buy such a car when it's common knowledge how easy it is to break into. Maybe if more people exercised peer pressure, and spoke their minds about others' stupid buying habits, people wouldn't continue to support companies that make bad or dangerous products.
If some bank gets ripped off because of their insecure ATMs, that's the bank's fault for choosing a poor piece of equipment, and they deserve to pay the price for that decision. And hopefully lots of customers will move their accounts to banks which use better ATMs.
Actually, I had a recent experience where I think somebody did something like that. I used a Bank Of America ATM at a gas station - it was one of those free-standing boxes that they just put anywhere on the store, as long as it is close to power and a DSL jack. Anyway, I withdrew $20 and left. The next day, I noticed that my account had been drained of funds. I called the bank, and they said that I had withdrawn all the money at that ATM. I had them pull the transactions, and apparently, somebody immediately after me had done mulitple pulls on my account until they got everything. (Only like $120, as it turns out, since I just use that account for petty cash). Anyway, the machine is one of the swiper kinds - it does not keep the card until you are finished, you just swipe it. Since I used a "Fast Cash" option, it should only allow that one transaction, then "log out" my account. If another transaction is attempted, it requires another swipe of my card. Obviously, it did not - either someone hacked the ATM - certainly possible if behind the crappy little cabinet with its crappy little lock the ATM monitor rests on there is a box with a mouse and a keyboard - or there was some kind of software error. I was suspicious of the former since there was a guy hanging around the area of the ATM. BofA refunded my loss and is investigating.