The FBI has warned of an imminent global cash hack at ATM machines.
“The FBI has obtained unspecified reporting indicating cyber criminals are planning to conduct a global Automated Teller Machine cash-out scheme in the coming days, likely associated with an unknown card issuer breach and commonly referred to as an ‘unlimited operation’,” according an FBI alert obtained by Krebs on Security.
The cyber criminals are expected to use malware to access personal bank card information, so changing your PIN could save you a big headache.
It is also especially important to monitor online statements to quickly report any discrepancy as soon as possible.
San Jose State University Prof. Dr. Ahmed Banafa. said, “The bank has to do a lot of things on their side to upgrade their firewalls, to upgrade their policies, you know, of dealing with transactions.”
The ATM cash-outs will likely happen at small to medium sized banks and credit unions because they typically have fewer security safeguards.
“Historic compromises have included small-to-medium size financial institutions, likely due to less robust implementation of cyber security controls, budgets, or third-party vendor vulnerabilities,” the FBI alert stated. “The FBI expects the ubiquity of this activity to continue or possibly increase in the near future.”
The criminals are able to make fraudulent copies of bank cards. Then they can remove the account limitations and plunder away.
“Once they are into the system, they go to the administrative account and they remove any sort of limitations, so whatever’s in the bank at that time, they can cash that, and they do it at a pre-determined time, all over the world,” Banafa said.
Experts believe the cash-out attacks would likely happen on weekends, when some banks are closed on Saturday.