Thieves In Europe Are Using USB Sticks To Clean Out ATMs

January 3, 2014 Leave a comment

Thieves In Europe Are Using USB Sticks To Clean Out ATMs

MATTHEW SPARKES, THE TELEGRAPH
DEC. 31, 2013, 6:57 AM 11,250 6

A gang of thieves targeted cash machines belonging to an unnamed European bank by uploading malicious software that would spit out banknotes on command

Criminals targeted a string of cash machines by cutting holes in the fascia to reach a USB port and upload malicious code that would spit out banknotes on command. Speakers at the Chaos Computing Congress in Hamburg described the attacks, which affected an unnamed European bank that noticed several cash machines had been entirely emptied without the safe at the rear being damaged.The bank increased security after the first attacks and were able to spot the gang drilling holes in the front of the machines, briefly inserting a USB flash drive and then patching up the damage afterwards to cover their tracks.

They were then able to return at a later date and instruct the compromised machine to dispense a specific amount of cash. To gain access they had to enter a 12-digit code, followed by a second code – this is believed to have been a failsafe to prevent individual members of the group from stealing money on their own. The second code constantly changed and the correct response could only be discovered by phoning another gang member.

Researchers found that the software then showed how many of each denomination banknote were in the machine, and asked how much of each it should dispense.

The BBC reports that the researchers, who asked to remain anonymous, said the gang must have had a “profound knowledge” of the workings of the cash machines in order to develop and successfully install the software.

Filed under TMT Trends

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Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

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