Most ATMs can be hacked in a matter of minutes.

A study carried out by Positive Technologies, a security company based in Massachusetts (United States), reveals that the majority of ATMs can be hacked in a matter of minutes, a fact that is quite alarming.

The research has analyzed the ATMs manufactured by the main suppliers and their results show that most of them are vulnerable to various attacks that can be carried out between 10 and 20 minutes. Specifically, the corporation's report states that the ATM's vulnerabilities can be grouped into several categories: insufficient network security, insufficient physical security, and incorrect configuration of the ATM system or the central system that controls them. For example, 69% is vulnerable to Black Box attacks, a technique that gives criminals access to the internal infrastructure of the terminal to connect it with an external unauthorized device, which allows them to dispense the money in cash. Carrying out this technique only takes 10 minutes in some ATM models.

Another finding of the research is that 92% of the hard disks of ATMs do not have encryption, which makes them vulnerable to different attacks, such as the direct connection of a criminal to infect it with malware and disable security systems to control the cash dispenser.

"In most ATMs there is no prohibition on some of the common key combinations used to access operating system functions," explains Leight-Anne Galloway of Positive Technologies. "In our security work, we constantly discover vulnerabilities related to network security, incorrect configuration and poor peripheral protection, which allow criminals to steal cash and obtain card information."