Hacking into ATMs with a few internet searches
Who would have thought it would be this easy to break into an ATM and run off with all the money?
CNN recetnly reported that a man was able to reprogram an ATM at a gas station, so that it would dispense $20 billions instead of $5 bills. Someone went to work to find out how he did it, and found that an operation manual for that specific type of ATM, a Tranax Mini-Bank 1500 Series, could be found legally in about 15 minutes.
The investigator who found the manual, Dave Goldsmith of Matasano Security, didn’t reveal exactly how he found the manual which had master passwords and security information about the ATM. However, a PDF file containing the same information was found with a simple Google search. The online manual was found freely available on the website of a Canadian reseller of the machines, and details the procedure to reprogram the machine, as well as change passwords.
