The bogeyman of ATM security has a face -- and it's Bill Gates, or more accurately, the legions of computer wonks that target Gates' Windows operating systems to test their hacking skills.

A recent revelation by Diebold that Windows-based ATMs operated by two unnamed financial institutions were affected by the W32/Nachi worm last August has heightened the concerns of bankers who are planning a switch from the OS/2 operating system to Windows.

"Security has always been absolutely the biggest issue for me," said Ted Josephson, vice president of eBusiness and Operations for Bridgeport, Conn.-based People's Bank. "Now that this has happened, it's like 'oh no, it's a real deal.'"

With the large number of hackers and hacker wannabes who are well versed in Windows, "it's a surprise not that something happened but that things haven't happened more often," said Richard Bell, research manager for retail channels for consulting firm Financial Insights.

In contrast, OS/2, the IBM operating system that has powered most ATMs for the past three decades, never gained enough popularity to attract the attention of hackers.

"Theoretically OS/2 running on a bisync network is just as vulnerable, but how many hackers know how to do it?" said Stuart Spinner, director of enterprise data security for Concord EFS. "Outside the ATM world, there's been very little exposure to that technology. With Windows, any 16-year-old kid running a TCP/IP network in his basement can download hacking tools from the Internet."

The rest of the article can be found at ATM Marketplace.Com.

Source: ATM Marketplace.Com

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