Hackers find how to steal PIN numbers

David Allen — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:25:42 +0000

It used to be that hackers who wanted o steal PIN numbers would have to do this one by one; this would normally mean that they would have to use skimming, cameras fitted to ATM machines or by phishing attacks.

However, in the US it has been found that when a PIN number in entered the data is transmitted to the bank, this is encrypted and therefore believed to be ultra safe. Yet it seems that hackers have been able to decrypt these transmissions and therefore manage to collect PIN number wholesale.

If this is true and there is no reason to think that it is not, then this could be another serious flaw within the banking system and could affect the way that people go about doing their shopping and paying for other services.

Source [Wired]

Jailed for malfunctioning ATM

David Allen — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:40:09 +0000

Finding an ATM that when you withdrew cash it only took a fraction of that amount from your bank account would be something that you would keep to yourself and always make your withdrawals from it, which is exactly what Xu Ting from Guangzhou in China doing until he let his friend Guo know about it.

The machine was actually only deducting 1 Yuan per 1000 Yuan from his account, and over a period of time he had withdrawn 175,000 Yuan which is around £12,000 in over a 170 transactions, while his friend withdrew 18,000 Yuan about £1,200.

But for some reason Guo handed himself in to the police and was jailed for a year, but on the other hand Xu Ting went on the run, but finally found himself in court and in no time at all found himself looking at a life sentence. This has caused uproar in China and he has appealed against the jail term.

Source [Yahoo News]

Finance Roadmap » ATM’s

Hackers find how to steal PIN numbers

Jailed for malfunctioning ATM