Cybergang Compromises Every ATM In Russian City 74
Orome1 writes "A group of fraudsters has been arrested in Yakutsk and Moscow for allegedly compromising all the ATMs in the city of Yakutsk — population: around 210,000 — in the Republic of Yakutia in the Russian Federation. Three of the men formed the actual criminal group, and the fourth — a Moscow-based malware developer — was 'subcontracted' by them and received 100,000 rubles (some $3200) to develop a custom ATM virus with which they would infect the devices."
In Russia... (Score:2, Funny)
ATM's take money from you.
How could it be that easy? (Score:4, Funny)
The article said one was a sys admin who apparently had access to the ATM's, and another was a former IT director, but still you'd think there'd be some security to prevent some crooked employee from just emptying out an ATM whenever he felt like it.
Scary how easy it was to compromise an entire city like that. I think I'll stop using ATMs for a while and switch back to bank tellers. Then again, humans are pretty easy to infect, too, using this virus called "money" that makes them do diabolical things.
When MacAfee comes out with a human honesty scanner, that'll help a lot.
Re:How could it be that easy? (Score:4, Informative)
but still you'd think there'd be some security to prevent some crooked employee from just emptying out an ATM whenever he felt like it.
Considering they were caught before they could do anything I would say it's a fair assumption.
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The article said one was a sys admin who apparently had access to the ATM's, and another was a former IT director, but still you'd think there'd be some security to prevent some crooked employee from just emptying out an ATM whenever he felt like it.
There probably is, as they got caught.
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When MacAfee comes out with a human honesty scanner, that'll help a lot.
I don't wanna know what happens when McAffee forces a reboot... [slashdot.org]
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Yes, you'd hope so, wouldn't you.
But it's worth reading this article in The Register, one of their best ever: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/21/phantoms_and_rogues/ [theregister.co.uk]
It seems it happened in the UK in the 1990s.
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Malware guy got ripped off (Score:1)
They paid him only $3200 to compromise every ATM in a city of 210K people? That doesn't seem like nearly enough.
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Also the market might not bare a larger fee. There could be a lot of developers capable of doing what he did available and that as much and any other factor has a significant effect on the asking price for a job.
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Moscow is insanely expensive compared to practically everywhere else in Russia. Within Moscow, it also gets even more insanely expensive as you get closer to the center. Still, $2k is way too much for a one-room apartment. You can find one right in the center for $1k.
Now, Yakutsk - that's out in the middle of nowhere, pretty much. I couldn't even find any apartments for rent online. But I'd expect it to be $300 for a 1-room, top.
Cybergangs? (Score:4, Insightful)
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No, but they would probably be differentiated, and if they specialized in tech crime it's a shorter word.
Also we have bank-robbers, not just robbers. This hardly even sounds like a cyber-crime as I've heard them in the past, as it doesn't appear to have taken place using cyber-space (or proximity wouldn't have been a factor).
I would even say the fact that location was a factor makes it not a cyber-crime (as the media uses the word).
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if they specialized in tech crime it's a shorter word.
So every high-tech crime has something to do with robotics or other control/feedback systems? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics [wikipedia.org]
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Use Russian ATMs? Really? (Score:2)
If I were to visit Russia, I think I would opt for in-bank transactions and cash-only, *OR* a special limited balance account set up SPECIFICALLY for that trip, to be shit-canned upon return home.
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Here's the thing, though... WHO in their right mind would use an ATM is Russia anyway? Good grief, I'd be surprised if they were *NOT* compromised.
If I were to visit Russia, I think I would opt for in-bank transactions and cash-only, *OR* a special limited balance account set up SPECIFICALLY for that trip, to be shit-canned upon return home.
OK, but what if you actually LIVED in Russia and weren't just visiting?
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OK, but what if you actually LIVED in Russia and weren't just visiting?
The same conditions apply. Cash only. I would not use a service that was guaranteed to steal all my money. Why would I, *ESPECIALLY* if I was a local?
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Now, for example, one thing I am scared of is US airport security. And how would it look if I'd said something like that: "It's a service guaranteed
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You'd be forced to use it, pretty much, because most organizations these days pay their employees by transferring the money into their bank accounts. Quite often you don't even get the choice of the bank where that account will be - they'll just open one for you and give you the bank card.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
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I wouldn't call $1,600,000 "out of proportion"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/08/shell_suspends_chippin/ [theregister.co.uk]
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I had no problems with that.
I didn't use the ATMs in university entrance halls, small shopping malls etc, but the ones in banks or very public places; i obviously did not use a credit card in small shops. The likeliness something bad will happen to you (e.g. Policemen doubting your registration and getting you stuck for several hours unless you pay up their "fee") by making yourself recognizable as a foreigner who uses some strange paths outweighs the possible loss (BTW: i always limit my cards to a reasona
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>If they skimmed money the traditional way (bribes and scams) would we call them a "financegang"?
No, we'd probably call them "Congressman".
Cybernetic implants, of course (Score:2)
I can fit more then 80g in my pocket but in Russia (Score:2)
I can fit more then 80g in my pocket but in Russia you need a brain to fit that much?
Bankstas! :D (Score:2)
See this Sinfest comic strip [sinfest.net]. :)
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If they skimmed money the traditional way (bribes and scams) would we call them a "financegang"?
No, we would call them "identity theft" so the customers will suffer the losses and banks won't be responsible at all.
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The new term is usually used when there is a significant difference in phenomena.
Gangs control the physical territory, racket business, collect from shady businesses, universally use violence.
Cybergangs do nothing of that.
Dig a sewer to Yakutsk! (Score:2)
Now I'm glad I didn't win that prize from MTVski.
This needs to happen more often (Score:4, Insightful)
Time to go back to OS/2! (Score:3)
Time to go back to OS/2!
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In my experience, it's not windows that's the problem, but the actual ATM software.
I can almost guarantee that if the developers and put the same skill in to developing a linux variant, we'd see them compromised just as often.
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Again, it's not really the OS; it's the application.
Although I suppose the argument can be made that the more complex and the more facilities provided by the OS, the more likely developers will abuse them.
I have supported applications, running on linux, which have made the server act just like a stereotypically windows box.
Of course, as I understand it, OS/2 is no longer supported. Hence, you aren't allowed to run it in a financial capacity.
Re:This needs to happen more often (Score:5, Insightful)
My roots as an MS hater go back to DOS long before Windows. And I disagree with your claim.
Given access from by the former head of IT, it would be feasible to engineer a compromise for any OS. If they had physical access, anything is possible. Perhaps they even had access to the dev environment which was used to program the machines.
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I actually agree with this. A few years ago, I was shocked to learn that new ATMs were being installed with Windows XP. The ATM at a local gas station I frequent -- I think it's some sort of Diebold model -- actually has a more-or-less stock Windows XP, complete with Solitaire and Minesweeper! I couldn't make this stuff up if I wanted to. WTF do you need Solitaire and Minesweeper on an ATM?
Seems to me they could save lots of money using one of those ARM SoCs and a stripped-down embedded Linux. It'd be to
Evident Risk joke (Score:4, Funny)
about Yakutsk usually being easy to protect
In Russian Republic of Yakutia . . . . (Score:2)
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Except of course when a large North American army is passing through Kamchatka.
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I was waiting for some kind of RISK reference.
Another Paypal Story (Score:2)
$3200????????? (Score:4, Informative)
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Dunno, seems to me like quite a lot to pay to fuck a software guy.
We have a similar gang of fraudsters in US (Score:4, Interesting)
So get this, then, they have these other dudes with guns who force people to pay them money so that it can be funneled back into the Ponzi scheme to keep it going.
On second thought, what we have here is far worse than in Russia. Damn Bank of America.
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Oh, give it a rest.
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Except that the loans eventually get paid back. Those that don't are made up in other loans' fees and interest. If all loans were paid back at once, there'd be exactly the same amount of value (cash & investments, adjusted for inflation) on hand to pay out to depositors as they deposited in the first place, more or less.
Economics is mostly a lot of connected zero-sum games. For every loan, a person gets an equal amount of cash and debt. The fact that there's a way to increase the magnitude of the number
Be evil. (Score:1)
Who the hell wakes up in the morning, looks in the mirror, and says, "I'm going to be evil today"? Of course these hackers aren't as evil as Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo [chinadaily.com.cn], but I just don't think I'd want to go on living if I ever found myself robbing ATM's or sending billions of spam emails.
Cybergang... (Score:2)
Massive Crime (Score:1)
Practice (Score:2)
For the upcoming World Cup in Russia.
Cybergang? (Score:1)