TECH

Attack that makes ATMs spit money starts spreading across the US
ATM manufacturers warn that criminals are hacking their devices using a method called "jackpotting," causing those devices to "spit" money, and that this type of attack is spreading across the United States, according to Reuters.Both Diebold Nixdorf Inc and NCR Corp., which make ATMs, issued alerts, although "they have not identified any victims or how much money has been lost using this technique." NCR told Reuters that none of its equipment was targeted, and Diebold Nixdorf said cybercriminals are using the method to try to break the safety of the Opteva line of ATMs, which is no longer produced.The attacks were first reported by security blog Krebs on Security, which emphasized that the method was occurring in Europe and Asia but had not yet reached the United States. Jackpotting is not an easy method of attack, but the payoff can be quite large. It requires the attacker to gain access to the device and run "malware or insert a specific electronic device into the device - usually the attack requires a combination of the two - to control the operations of the ATM," Krebs wrote.
"The ATMs that are targeted for these attacks are usually in pharmacies, retailers and drive thru," says a confidential memo in the Secret Service obtained by Krebs. "During previous attacks, fraudsters dressed as technicians and connected a laptop with an image of the operating system of the ATM along with a cell phone."The Secret Service further notes that attackers use an endoscope to locate an internal component of the ATM in which they can connect the laptop and run malware, commonly known as Plotus.D. They can then contact the attackers who can make the cash spit, sometimes with a fee of "40 banknotes every 23 seconds." Having access to the ATM the first time requires having a key or breaking the physical security of the device.To make matters worse, there are many ATMs running Windows XP than newer operating systems such as Windows 7, Krebs scores. According to Reuters, the Russian company Group IB said that in 2016 these attacks hit more than a dozen European countries, in addition to Turkey and Taiwan.

Tom McKay