Would you like cash with your virus?

Jump to First Reply
torifiletorifile
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Jeez, it keeps getting better and better. I saw this link on MacNN's front page and read the article.Windows powering ATMs. Does this scare anyone else?



Personally, I've left MS software out of concern for the security of my data. While I have no control over what companies that I do business with run on their machines, I'd like to think that most of the stuff they use is relatively secure and away from malicious hands. I'm not too happy about this prospect.



Their justification for doing this is that Windows is "open." yeah, to hackers and crackers and worms. It seems like going to open-source solutions would be better for their needs, but what do I know? I'm a piddly Mac user...



If I were a bank that DIDN'T use windows software in my ATMs I'd advertise the hell out of that security feature. But that's just me...

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    to me the most interesting part of that when i read it was that current TAM's use OS/2.



    i didn't realize OS/2 was used any place with regularity any more.



    although i feel a hell of a lot less safe now than before. especially since i see ATM's contacting banks via phone lines all the time. how hard could it be to tap into that if they were running windows?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 2 of 8
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    1) Why do companies constantly move to Windows for various things like this when they KNOW that it's the most vulnerable OS on the planet? It's like the worse MS makes it, the more the idiot brigade wants on with them.



    2) Why do they consider Windows an "open" platform? It's the most closed platform you can get!
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 8
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    [Devil's advocate]

    The articel did say it was a striped down version of windows. Lots (not all) of the bugs/virus/worms/macros rely on TCP/IP and a vulnerability in a second program (like outlook) or add-ons (UPNP). I imagine, after years and years of service, most bugs would be found and the OS has been stabilized which is probably why they are not upgrading to newer versions with new bugs.

    [/Devil's advocate]



    *Shudder*

    http://www.totse.com/en/hack/hack_attack/atmhack.html

    I like google.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 8
    rageousrageous Posts: 2,170member
    Windows has been in ATMs for literally years now. It's just becoming more prolific now. And ATMs haven't melted down yet, so I'd say it's working out ok.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 8
    ryaxnbryaxnb Posts: 583member
    How stupid! How about using Windows 3.1 next? I bet a virus will break out for ATMs.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 8
    i-bent-my-wookiei-bent-my-wookie Posts: 326member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by alcimedes

    to me the most interesting part of that when i read it was that current TAM's use OS/2.



    i didn't realize OS/2 was used any place with regularity any more.



    although i feel a hell of a lot less safe now than before. especially since i see ATM's contacting banks via phone lines all the time. how hard could it be to tap into that if they were running windows?



    OS/2 is still widely used in the banking industry. IBM is a huge banking vendor. when i used to work for IBM global services many major banks ran their transaction servers on OS/2. I remember Royal Bank (in canada) would buy Dell hardware but had service adn support through ibm so we would reformat the dell servers and put OS/2 on them.



    if it aint broke dont fix it. not a lot of viruses targeting OS/2 these days!
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 8
    gardenofearthlydelightsgardenofearthlydelights Posts: 963member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by alcimedes

    i didn't realize OS/2 was used any place with regularity any more.







    The airline I flew to Romania with used OS/2 at their ticket window. That scared me more than the airplane.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 8 of 8
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby

    *Shudder*

    http://www.totse.com/en/hack/hack_attack/atmhack.html

    I like google.



     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
Sign In or Register to comment.