INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
New details regarding a series of jackpotting attacks on ATMs in Germany that took place in 2017 have been uncovered thanks to a joint
investigation conducted by Motherboard and the German broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR).Jackpotting is a technique in which
cybercriminals use either malware or a piece of hardware to trick an ATM into ejecting all of the cash it contains
A stolen credit card isn't required to launch a jackpotting attack and those behind these attacks usually install the malware onto an ATM by
opening a panel on the machine to gain access to a USB port.Motherboard and BR's investigation revealed that while jackpotting attacks
have decreased in Europe during the first half of this year, multiple sources have said that the number of attacks in other parts of the
world have increased.The US, Latin America and Southeast Asia have all faced jackpotting attacks recently and banks as well as ATM
manufacturers have been impacted across the financial industry.Back in 2010 at the annual Black Hat cybersecurity conference, the late
researcher Barnaby Jack showed of his own strain of ATM malware live on stage
it comes to the jackpotting attacks which occurred in Germany during 2017, prosecuting attorney Christoph Hebbecker revealed to the joint
investigation that 10 incidents took place between February and November in which attackers were able to steal 1.4m Euro
However, now jackpotting has made a comeback as cybercriminals look to illegally earn funds in the real world.One of the main issues with
ATM security is that many ATMs are essentially aging Windows computers that are very old and slow
ATM manufacturers have made security improvements to their devices over the years but unfortunately that doesn't necessarily mean that all
ATMs across the industry are up to the same standard.Executive director of the ATM Industry Association in the US, Canada and Americas,
David N Tente explained to Vice how banks can better protect their ATMs from jackpotting attacks, saying:"In order to execute a jackpotting
attack, you have to have access to the internal components of the ATM
So, preventing that first physical attack on the ATM goes a long way toward preventing the jackpotting attack."In the world of
cybersecurity, attack methods that fall out of favor with cybercriminals are often revived later on and that certainly seems to be the case
with the recent wave of jackpotting attacks.Via Vice
