Masked men came out of nowhere and grabbed millions of dollars from dozens of ATMs this past Sunday in Taiwan and they didn’t even need a bank card to do it. Taiwan's First Bank is still trying to figure out how a gang was able to hack their network and instruct a number of ATMs to dispense all their cash adding up to nearly $2 million US lost.
Police say this sophisticated attack was conducted by several people from Russia and Eastern Europe who used a device, most likely a smartphone, to initiate the attack once they were in position.
Security experts say the Wincor Nixdorf ATMs were infected with three different malware viruses that managed to both give the dispense command and delete the record of the incident. In the meantime, First Bank and several other Taiwanese financial institutions have suspended ATM use. At this time, Wincor does not know how their ATMs were hacked, but says the malware was not inserted via an ATM.
FTSI reminds you that you need to use several layers of defense to combat against logical attacks and you should always make sure your security software is up to date to defend against the latest threats. FTSI has a range of security measures to combat both physical attacks and software threats to your financial institution. If you need further information on these or other attacks and what you can do to protect yourself, please contact us today at solutions@ftsius.com.
