ATM hacking | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

A Brazilian threat actor known as  Prilex  has resurfaced after a year-long operational hiatus with an advanced and complex malware to steal money by means of fraudulent transactions. "The Prilex group has shown a high level of knowledge about credit and debit card transactions, and how software used for payment processing works," Kaspersky researchers  said . "This enables the attackers to keep updating their tools in order to find a way to circumvent the authorization policies, allowing them to perform their attacks." The cybercrime group emerged on the scene with ATM-focused malware attacks in the South American nation, providing it the ability to break into ATM machines to perform jackpotting – a type of attack aiming to dispense cash illegitimately – and clone thousands of credit cards to steal funds from the targeted bank's customers. Prilex's modus operandi over the years has since evolved to take advantage of processes relating to point-of-sale ...

Bitcoin ATM manufacturer General Bytes confirmed that it was a victim of a cyberattack that exploited a previously unknown flaw in its software to plunder cryptocurrency from its users. "The attacker was able to create an admin user remotely via CAS administrative interface via a URL call on the page that is used for the default installation on the server and creating the first administration user," the company  said  in an advisory last week. "This vulnerability has been present in CAS software since version 2020-12-08." It's not immediately clear how many servers were breached using this flaw and how much cryptocurrency was stolen. CAS is short for  Crypto Application Server , a self-hosted product from General Bytes that enables companies to manage Bitcoin ATM ( BATM ) machines from a central location via a web browser on a desktop or a mobile device. The zero-day flaw, which concerned a bug in the CAS admin interface, has been mitigated in two server p...

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A financially motivated threat actor has been observed deploying a previously unknown rootkit targeting Oracle Solaris systems with the goal of compromising Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) switching networks and carrying out unauthorized cash withdrawals at different banks using fraudulent cards. Threat intelligence and incident response firm Mandiant is tracking the cluster under the moniker UNC2891, with some of the group's tactics, techniques, and procedures sharing overlaps with that of another cluster dubbed  UNC1945 . The intrusions staged by the actor involve "a high degree of OPSEC and leverage both public and private malware, utilities, and scripts to remove evidence and hinder response efforts," Mandiant researchers  said  in a new report published this week. Even more concerningly, the attacks spanned several years in some cases, during the entirety of which the actor remained undetected by taking advantage of a rootkit called CAKETAP, whic is designed to c...

As many as seven security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in PTC's Axeda software that could be weaponized to gain unauthorized access to medical and IoT devices. Collectively called " Access:7 ," the weaknesses – three of which are rated Critical in severity – potentially affect more than  150 device models  spanning over 100 different manufacturers, posing a significant supply chain risk. PTC's Axeda solution includes a cloud platform that allows device manufacturers to establish connectivity to remotely monitor, manage and service a wide range of connected machines, sensors, and devices via what's called the agent, which is installed by the OEMs before the devices are sold to customers. "Access:7 could enable hackers to remotely execute malicious code, access sensitive data, or alter configuration on medical and IoT devices running PTC's Axeda remote code and management agent," researchers from Forescout and CyberMDX said in a joint report...

The US-CERT has released a joint technical alert from the DHS, the FBI, and Treasury warning about a new ATM scheme being used by the prolific North Korean APT hacking group known as Hidden Cobra . Hidden Cobra, also known as Lazarus Group and Guardians of Peace, is believed to be backed by the North Korean government and has previously launched attacks against a number of media organizations, aerospace, financial and critical infrastructure sectors across the world. The group had also reportedly been associated with the WannaCry ransomware menace that last year shut down hospitals and big businesses worldwide, the SWIFT Banking attack in 2016, as well as the Sony Pictures hack in 2014. Now, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of the Treasury have released details about a new cyber attack, dubbed " FASTCash ," that Hidden Cobra has been using since at least 2016 to cash out ATMs by compromising the bank server. FASTCash Hack...

Three members of one of the world's largest cybercrime organizations that stole over a billion euros from banks across the world over the last five years have been indicted and charged with 26 felony counts, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday. The three suspects are believed to be members of the organized Russian cybercrime group known as FIN7 , the hackers group behind Carbanak and Cobalt malware and were arrested last year in Europe between January and June. The suspects—Dmytro Fedorov, 44, Fedir Hladyr, 33, and Andrii Kopakov, 30—are all from Ukraine and accused of targeting 120 companies based in the United States, as well as U.S. individuals. The victims include Chipotle Mexican Grill, Jason's Deli, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Sonic Drive-in, Taco John's, Chili's, Arby's, and Emerald Queen Hotel and Casino in Washington state. Carbanak (FIN7) Group Charged for Stealing 15 Million Credit Cards According to the press release published ...

Security researchers have uncovered a previously undetected group of Russian-speaking hackers that has silently been targeting Banks, financial institutions, and legal firms, primarily in the United States, UK, and Russia. Moscow-based security firm Group-IB published a 36-page report on Monday, providing details about the newly-disclosed hacking group, dubbed MoneyTaker , which has been operating since at least May 2016. In the past 18 months, the hacking group is believed to have conducted more than 20 attacks against various financial organisations—stolen more than $11 Million and sensitive documents that could be used for next attacks. According to the security firm, the group has primarily been targeting card processing systems, including the AWS CBR (Russian Interbank System) and SWIFT international bank messaging service (United States). " Criminals stole documentation for OceanSystems' FedLink card processing system, which is used by 200 banks in Latin America...

Hackers targeted at least 8 ATMs in Russia and stole $800,000 in a single night, but the method used by the intruders remained a complete mystery with CCTV footage just showing a lone culprit walking up to the ATM and collecting cash without even touching the machine. Even the affected banks could not find any trace of malware on its ATMs or backend network or any sign of an intrusion. The only clue the unnamed bank's specialists found from the ATM's hard drive was — two files containing malware logs. The log files included the two process strings containing the phrases: "Take the Money Bitch!" and "Dispense Success." This small clue was enough for the researchers from the Russian security firm Kaspersky, who have been investigating the ATM heists, to find malware samples related to the ATM attack. In February, Kaspersky Labs reported that attackers managed to hit over 140 enterprises, including banks, telecoms, and government organizations, in th...

ATM hackers who long relied on tactics of stealing payment card numbers and online banking credentials to steal millions are now targeting the bank itself to steal cash directly from the machines. Earlier this year, a gang of cyber criminals infected several ATMs with malware in Taiwan and Thailand that caused the machines to spit out millions in cash, and the gang members then stood in front of the infected ATMs at the appointed hour and collected the money. Now, the FBI has warned U.S. banks of the potential for similar ATM jackpotting attacks, saying that the agency is "monitoring emerging reports indicating that well-resourced and organized malicious cyber actors have intentions to target the U.S. financial sector." ATM jackpotting is a technique used to force automated teller machines to spit out cash. According to Russian cyber security firm Group-IB, cyber crooks have remotely infected ATMs with malware in more than dozen countries across Europe this year, ...

India is undergoing the biggest data breaches to date with as many as 3.2 Million debit card details reportedly stolen from multiple banks and financial platforms. The massive financial breach has hit India's biggest banks including State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, Yes Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis, and customers are advised to change their ATM PIN immediately. Hackers allegedly used malware to compromise the Hitachi Payment Services platform — which is used to power country's ATM, point-of-sale (PoS) machines and other financial transactions — and stole details of 3.2 Million debit cards, reports The Economic Times. Of 3.2 Million debit cards, 2.6 Million are powered by Visa or Mastercard and rest 600,000 work on top of India's own RuPay platform. Hacked Debit Cards Reportedly Used in China It is not yet clear who is behind the cyber attack, but the report adds that a number of affected customers have observed unauthorized transactions made by their cards in v...

A Romanian man has been arrested and charged with conspiracy relating to his involvement in a prolific ATM malware campaign. Emanual Leahu, 30, was arrested in the western city of Bacău, Romania by the London Regional Fraud Team (LRFT) London police run by the City of London Police on Tuesday 20 September, extradited to the United Kingdom last week. Leahu is believed to be a member of a European ATM hacking gang that stole more than £1.5 Million ($2 Million) from cash machines across the UK in 2014 using ATM malware to bypass security controls. The gang physically broke into ATMs to directly load malware onto the machines, allowing it to withdraw "large amounts of cash." The malware was good enough to erase itself to hide its tracks, making it difficult to identify the culprit. Three out of Five Gang Members Arrested Luckily, due to the gang's carelessness, one of its members was recorded by a hidden ATM surveillance camera, which allowed the police to id...

Thailand has suffered its first ATM Hack! An Eastern European gang of criminals has stolen over 12 Million Baht (approximately US$350,000) from a total of 21 ATMs in Bangkok and other five provinces by hacking a Thai bank's ATM network; police said Wednesday The Central Bank of Thailand (BoT) has issued a warning to all commercial banks about security flaws in roughly 10,000 ATMs that were exploited to steal cash from the machines. The warning came shortly after the state-owned Government Savings Bank (GSB) shut down approximately 3,000 of their ATMs following an ongoing police investigation into the recent hack in which hackers were able to infect many its cash machines with malware. GSB found that millions of Thailand Baht were stolen between August 1 and 8 from 21 ATMs across the provinces of Bangkok, Phuket, Chumphon, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Phetchaburi, and Surat Thani, the Bangkok Post reports. The hackers made over 12.29 Million Thailand Baht (US$346,000) by inser...

Forget about security! It turns out that the Chip-and-PIN cards are just as easy to clone as magnetic stripe cards. It took researchers just a simple chip and pin hack to withdraw up to $50,000 in cash from an ATM in America in under 15 minutes. We have been told that EMV ( Europay, MasterCard and Visa ) chip-equipped cards provides an extra layer of security which makes these cards more secure and harder to clone than the old magnetic stripe cards. But, it turns out to be just a myth. A team of security engineers from Rapid7 at Black Hat USA 2016 conference in Las Vegas demonstrated how a small and simple modifications to equipment would be enough for attackers to bypass the Chip-and-PIN protections and enable unauthorized transactions. The demonstration was part of their presentation titled, "Hacking Next-Gen ATMs: From Capture to Washout," [ PDF ]. The team of researchers was able to show the audience an ATM spitting out hundreds of dollars in cash. Here...

As your day-to-day apparel and accessories are turning into networked mobile electronic devices that attach to your body like smartwatch or fitness band, the threat to our personal data these devices collect has risen exponentially. A recent study from Binghamton University also suggests your smartwatch or fitness tracker is not as secure as you think – and it could be used to steal your ATM PIN code. The risk lies in the motion sensors used by these wearable devices. The sensors also collect information about your hand movements among other data, making it possible for "attackers to reproduce the trajectories" of your hand and "recover secret key entries." In the paper, titled " Friend or Foe?: Your Wearable Devices Reveal Your Personal PIN," computer scientists from the Stevens Institute of Technology and Binghamton University used a computer algorithm that can guess your password and PIN with about 80% success rate on the first attempt, and ...

We have heard a lot about ATM skimmers, but it's nearly impossible to spot one. Some skimmers are designed to look exactly like the card slot on the original machine and attached to the front, and others are completely hidden inside the ATM. But, during his vacation in Vienna, Austria, cyber security expert Benjamin Tedesco spotted an ATM skimmer that was totally unrecognizable. Tedesco was hanging out in Vienna and when about to draw some cash from a cash machine outside St. Stephen's Cathedral, he decided to do a quick visual inspection of the ATM machine and surprisingly spotted the dodgy device attached to it. Warning: Beware of Skimming Devices Installed on the ATM Vestibule Doors . That was a credit card skimmer – a perfect replica of the actual card reader that was designed to steal credit card information of users when they swipe their card to take off cash from the ATM. "Being security paranoid, I repeated my typical habit of checking the card read...

In an era where major data hacks are on the rise, it is no surprise breaches on individuals are also up. In just three hours, over 100 criminals managed to steal ¥1.4 Billion ( approx. US$12.7 Million ) from around 1,400 ATMs placed in small convenience stores across Japan. The heist took place on May 15, between 5:00 am and 8:00 am, and looked like a coordinated attack by an international crime network. The crooks operated around 1,400 convenience store ATMs from where the cash was withdrawn simultaneously in 16 prefectures around Japan, including Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Kanagawa, Aichi, Nagasaki, Hyogo, Chiba and Nigata, The Mainichi reports . Also Read: Tyupkin Malware Hacking ATM Machines Worldwide Many ATM incidents involve a long-established technique called ' ATM Skimming ' in which criminals install devices to obtain card details via its magnetic stripe, or use ATM malware or from data breaches, and then work with so-called carders and money mules to pilfe...

A Romanian card skimmer arrested for being part of an international cybercrime group that used malware to plunder US$217,000 from ATMs has escaped from a Bucharest prison on Sunday morning (6th March). Renato Marius Tulli , 34, was being held at Police Precinct 19 in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, after being arrested together with 7 other suspects as part of a joint Europol, Eurojust, and DIICOT investigation on January 5, 2016. Tulli was part of a criminal gang specialized in robbing NCR-based ATMs. According to the federal authorities, the gang allegedly used a piece of malware, dubbed Tyupkin , to conduct what's known as Jackpotting attack and made Millions by infecting ATMs across Europe and beyond. Using Tyupkin malware, the criminals were able to empty cash from infected ATMs by issuing commands through the ATM's pin pad. Authorities announced on Monday that Tulli escaped with Grosy Gostel , 38, a man held for robbery charges, while both o...

Romanian law enforcement authorities have arrested eight cyber criminals suspected of being part of an international criminal gang that pilfered cash from ATMs ( automatic teller machines ) using malware. The operation said to be one of the first operations of this type in Europe, was conducted in Romania and Moldova by Romanian National Police and the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crimes and Terrorism ( DIICOT ), with assistance from Europol, Eurojust and other European law enforcement authorities. Europol did not provide names of any of the eight criminals arrested but said that the gang allegedly used a piece of malware, dubbed Tyupkin , to conduct what are known as Jackpotting attacks and made millions by infecting ATMs across Europe and beyond. With the help of Tyupkin malware, the suspects were able to empty cash from infected ATMs by issuing commands through the ATM's pin pad. " The criminal group was involved in large scale ATM Jackpotting...

Another day, another stunning Malware – this time targeting banks, payment card processors, and other financial services. Security researchers have uncovered a sophisticated payment card malware that executes before the operating system boots, making the malware very difficult to detect and much less remove. The malware in question is part of " Nemesis " – a malware suite that includes all software programs for capturing screens, transferring files, injecting processes, logging keystrokes, and carrying out other malicious activities on the infected computers. Nemesis malware family has been seen in the past, targeting banks, ATMs, financial transaction processing, credit unions, and financial business service companies. Nemesis Bootkit Malware – Reappears even after Re-installation of the OS The malware with bootkit functionality has been in operation since early this year and has the ability to modify the legitimate VBR ( Volume Boot Record ) that ma...

Russian hackers have discovered a novel technique to rip off Millions of dollars from banks and ATMs. Criminals in Russia used a technique, called " Reverse ATM Attack ," and stole 252 Million Rubles ( US$3.8 Million ) from at least five different banks, according to the information obtained by Russian digital intelligence firm Group-IB . What is Reverse ATM Attack? According to the intelligence firm, an attacker would deposit sums of 5,000, 10,000 and 30,000 Rubles into legitimate bank accounts using ATMs, and immediately withdraw the same amounts right away with a printed receipt of the payment transaction. The details included in the receipt, containing a payment reference number and the amount withdrawn, would then be transferred to a partner hacker, who had remote access to the infected POS terminals, usually located outside of Russia. Also Read: German Bank ATMs vulnerable to Hackers The partner hacker would then use these details to perform a reversal ...