For the first time, a country in Western Europe has reported that malware attacks were used by hackers to steal US$1.32 million from ATMs. The reason is attributed to the use of Windows XP by most ATM systems.

Malware attacks on ATMs have been used for some time in other parts of the world, including Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific region and Latin America.

The country reported to the European ATM Security Team (EAST) that they were attacked 51 times in 2014. Criminals used so-called cash out or jackpotting attacks, in which malware is used to take control of the ATM cash dispense function, allowing the criminals to take out cash.

EAST said in the report: “As a significant number of Europe’s ATMs continue to use the Windows XP operating system, there are concerns that many remain vulnerable to ATM malware if the necessary preventative measures are not taken."

Losses rose from 2013 from $248 million to over $280 million in 2014.According to EAST, that was the highest amount of loss in the last 5 years.

That rise was mainly driven by international skimming losses, in which hackers capture card details and the PIN number at the ATM and use them to produce counterfeit cards for fraudulent cash withdrawals.

Source: PCWorld