An ATM based malware script has beemn discovered with the potential to sit invisible within ATM machines and record all private transactions without detection.
New Scientist is reporting that the malware, hidden as executable code in the ATM framework, is likely to be the work of an inside job at the bank or ATM, because the code needs to be installed inside the actual machine.
The malware is extremely difficult to detect, because it looks like an ordinary piece of ATM code.
According to the report, virus checkers are said to be useless on the malware, as criminal networks have camouflaged the malware within various Windows utilities inside the machine.
Security experts are alarmed at just how easy and brazen the ATM malware is. It has the ability to record customers PIN and their 3-digit security number; a security detail often thought to be one of the last defences against fraud.
No matter how much a customer may try to cover their hands over their PIN at the ATM, this malware can still steal all account details with relative ease. This scam goes way beyond the typical use of PIN cameras and false keyboards at the cash box.
This kind of malware has the potential to make common skimming practices seem downright ancient. Other unconventional skimming attacks have been looked at in university experiments and in theory, but this is one of the first times that an attack using malicious code has been found in the public arena.
Using a trigger card, the criminals are able to 'tell' the malware to trigger a screen that can either release the cash box on older ATMs or print out the encrypted details of customer accounts, thereby making it easier for criminal networks to employ mules to pick up the information for them, virtually undetected.
Although only found in Russian and Ukraine ATMs for now, security experts are worried that the practice will quickly spread around the world to areas such as East Asia and Eastern European localities. In these regions, security around ATMs may be just as lax.
Banks in Australia have recently been the target of growing ATM fraud, but the existence of this malware may fuel the need for a new strategy to combat these kinds of attacks at the local level, including a different approach to physical ATM design.
For more reading and how to protect yourself at the ATM, read our story here.