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Clever Physical ATM Attack

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Full article211 words · extracted from schneier.com · click to collapse

This is an interesting combination of computer and physical attack:

Researchers from the Russian security firm Kaspersky on Monday detailed a new ATM-emptying attack, one that mixes digital savvy with a very precise form of physical penetration. Kaspersky’s team has even reverse engineered and demonstrated the attack, using only a portable power drill and a $15 homemade gadget that injects malicious commands to trigger the machine’s cash dispenser. And though they won’t name the ATM manufacturer or the banks affected, they warn that thieves have already used the drill attack across Russia and Europe, and that the technique could still leave ATMs around the world vulnerable to having their cash safes disemboweled in a matter of minutes.

“We wanted to know: To what extent can you control the internals of the ATM with one drilled hole and one connected wire? It turns out we can do anything with it,” says Kaspersky researcher Igor Soumenkov, who presented the research at the company’s annual Kaspersky Analyst Summit. “The dispenser will obey and dispense money, and it can all be done with a very simple microcomputer.”

Tags: ATMs, crime, physical security, theft

Posted on April 5, 2017 at 6:29 AM43 Comments

Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.

Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/04/clever_physical.html