Advertisment

Demonetization Escalated Malware and Cybersecurity Threats on Micro-ATMs and ATMs

Demonetization Escalated Malware and Cybersecurity Threats on Micro-ATMs and ATMs

author-image
Nijhum Rudra
New Update
black box atm attacks emerging threat showcase image a

CERT-In, India’s cybersecurity agency has warned customers, bankers, and traders against skimming and malware attacks on micro-ATMs and ATMs and requested them to implement high-end encryption to stop these probable fissures.

Advertisment

Demonetization has increased the usage of micro-ATMs, PoS and digital wallet payments to 75 per cent over the last one month according to India’s cybersecurity agency CERT-In. The agency has warned customers, bankers, and traders against skimming and malware attacks on these systems and requested them to implement high-end encryption to stop these probable fissures.

The government’s nodal agency that fights and prevents hacking on cybersecurity systems has issued two specific advisories for micro-Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and POS terminals.

The nodal agency stated that micro-ATMS are connected to the central banking servers via a GPRS network and they work with marginal power. Therefore, their security measurements needs to strong and must have an updated system that can check various attempts of the hackers who sneakily plan to steal private customer and bank data.

Advertisment

“Traditionally, data input into the POS system is in memory in clear text which allows attackers, memory scrapers to be very successful. The way to minimize this risk is by encrypting the card data as soon as possible and keeping it encrypted to the maximum extent throughout its life within the system. Point to Point Encryption (P2PE) could be used to address the issue of encrypting data in memory,” CERT-In said to PTI.

In a report of NEWS18, FireEye, an US based cybersecurity protecting organization said, “The way to minimize this risk is by encrypting the card data as soon as possible and keeping it encrypted to the maximum extent throughout its life within the system. Point to Point Encryption (P2PE) could be used to address the issue of encrypting data in memory.”

Following demonetization, The State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and YES Bank were among banks which reported several of their customers' debit cards being compromised following a malware-related security breach in an ATM network. The SBI blocked nearly 600,000 debit cards. This came on the heels of malware attacks and cyber threats that affected countries like Japan and Bangladesh this year.

Advertisment

"With the continued rise in ransomware activities across the globe, religious organizations may unexpectedly become a target of cyber criminals in 2017, adding that much of the threat activity in the Asia-Pacific region is from China," FireEye continued.

pos_1481029125

According to the reports of Hindustan Times, CERT-In said “A thief can obtain the victim’s credit card number using a small electronic device near the card acceptance slot and store hundreds of victims’ credit card numbers,”

Advertisment

It further added “A social engineering attack can be engineered at these facilities, it added, by gaining trust of the owner as the fraudster poses as a member of staff. The fraudster would then ask the customer to check the card for damages. The fraudster would have gained confidence from his prey using various tactics such as offering assistance to the customer who perhaps would have tried to use the ATM without success or perhaps the customer who is not familiar with use of micro ATM machine and requires assistance.”

Many of the rural citizens unbanked and hence, micro-ATM helps them to have banking services in their areas and provides facilities of deposit, withdrawal, funds transfer, balance enquiry and issuance of mini-statement.

The cybersecurity and malware attacks are very prominent in these regions and therefore CERT-In has asked the banks and micro ATM operators to exercise some counter-measures to thwart such attacks.

In a in cybersecurity conference, the advisory by Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In) said, “The micro ATM must not transmit any confidential data unencrypted on the network; it must automatically log out the operator and lock itself after a period of inactivity; keep all the micro ATM software, application, anti-virus regularly updated and educate the customer about basic functionalities and security best practices.”

security
Advertisment