Fear of fine trumps fear of breach for banks
Tens of thousands of ATMs will be running Windows XP long after Microsoft’s deadline to abandon the operating system ahead of a potential hacker storm.
Just a third of the UK’s 60,000 ATMs will be upgraded from Windows XP before the end of this year, according to the biggest supplier of those machines - NCR.
But it will be 8 April when Microsoft actually stops releasing security patches for Windows XP and when systems still running the OS will be open to hackers writing new malware and devising fresh attacks.
NCR – which supplies 60 per cent of the UK’s cash points – believes 95 per cent of Britain’s ATMs are today still running Windows XP with less than a month to go.
NCR told The Reg it has been working with Microsoft for nearly three years through workshops and sales camps to persuade banks to upgrade their ATMs.
NCR is selling a version of its ATM software that runs on Windows 7.
But the banks are dragging their feet because of the cost and are only moving as part of an overall business strategy because of the substantial cost involved in buying the new cash machines needed.
The price of an ATM runs to $40,000 per machine for the latest fully specified touchscreen machines with an average start price of $8,000.
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UK's CASH POINTS to MISS Windows XP withdrawal date
+54
And yet some of the banks over here have made record profits this year...so you would have thought that they would invest in better infrastructure to help keep their customers safe when withdrawing their hard earned cash...but 'NO'...it is all about corportae greed in that industry. :(
Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete Beta Tester v9.0.24.49, imaged by Macrium Reflect v7.2
+54Themselves and the shareholders always come first, I would expect they are covered by insurance for any problems so they will not worry too much about it.
+3I couldn't believe it last year when the discussion about BlackPOS started, that these ATM's were actually running Windows at all, much less unpatched XP, which has most recently been the case afaik.
You would have thought they'd be running some custom-built specialised OS, but no...'Let's get our priorities right'...'Now let us have our bonuses before anything'...I can hear them.
The sad prospect is that it is very likely we will see an exponential increase in breaches, ID theft etc. until Financial Institutions (of all kinds) decide that their customer's accounts' security should be their foremost consideration...or risk losing their reputation, and their business.
You would have thought they'd be running some custom-built specialised OS, but no...'Let's get our priorities right'...'Now let us have our bonuses before anything'...I can hear them.
The sad prospect is that it is very likely we will see an exponential increase in breaches, ID theft etc. until Financial Institutions (of all kinds) decide that their customer's accounts' security should be their foremost consideration...or risk losing their reputation, and their business.
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