The Taiwan authorities are trying to understand how some hackers have managed to trick a bank ATM network by removing over two million dollars in a few hours.
Η police suspects two Russian nationals who were wearing masks. Suspects managed to visit dozens of ATMs of Taiwan's First Bank on Sunday as the country was hit by a typhoon. Scammers stole an estimated $2,2 million just hours after the typhoon hit Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.
The two (or maybe three) fraudsters who carried out the thefts did not use bank cards, as the cameras ασφαλείας. Οι hackers φαίνεται ότι απέκτησαν τον έλεγχο των ΑTM, με μια “συνδεδεμένη συσκευή,” ενδεχομένως με κάποιο smartphone, σύμφωνα με την αστυνομία.
The violated ATMs were manufactured by German company Wincor Nixdorf, which admits that some of Taiwan's machines have been hacked. Three different kinds of malware were found on the machines.
First Bank and other Taiwan banks stopped withdrawals from their ATMs as a precautionary measure after the attack, and are awaiting the controls that will try to determine how the attack was done.
However, security experts have already come up with some theories trying to explain hack.
Craig Young, a security researcher of the Vulnerability and Exposures Research team at Tripwire, said:
"The attackers may have come up with another massive ATM hack like the technique Barnaby Jack presented at Black Hat USA 2010. These attacks they use malware that reprograms the machine. That's how the cash comes out.
“Some ATMs have systems managementς δικτύου με γνωστούς προεπιλεγμένους κωδικούς πρόσβασης, και σε πολλές περιπτώσεις, οι κλέφτες μπορούν και έχουν πρόσβαση σε θύρες USB για να φορτώσουν κακόβουλο λογισμικό από μια μονάδα flash. Από την περιγραφή, ακούγεται ότι οι κλέφτες πιθανά εγκαταστήσαν κακόβουλο λογισμικό επιτρέποντας την ασύρματη σύνδεση στα ΑΤΜ. Είναι επίσης πολύ πιθανό ότι μια ευάλωτη ασύρματη υπηρεσία θα μπορούσε να επιτρέψει μη εξουσιοδοτημένη πρόσβαση στους hackers.”
