Windows of Opportunity for ATM Fraud Increase as Wells Fargo Boots Up More than 6000 Windows ATMs   - 2,352 Views, 1 Comment

Well, Wells Fargo has done it. Back in November we told you about the increase in ATM machines running on Windows (yes, we realize that “ATM machines” is redundant, but many people know them by that name). Now Wells Fargo has announced that it has just completed switching 6,200 ATMs over to a web-based Windows system. Think about that. More than 6,000 Wells Fargo automatic teller machines in 23 states, running on Windows. The security of your money, your personal banking information, if you ever bank with or through a Wells Fargo ATM, entrusted to a Windows system.

This move is going to cause ATM fraud to increase, according to Avivah Litan, an analyst for Gartner, citing the “combination of stealing ATM numbers online and creating counterfeit ATM cards to use off-line”, and adding that the move to Windows-based ATM systems is “not great news for the security of the system. I’m sure there’s a lot of holes that will be created because of this.”

Litan is, apparently, a master of understatement.

According to Bill Sentenac, a senior vice president of technology with the Wells Fargo Services Division, even he is concerned with how secure (or not) their new Windows technology ATM system is, “but no more so than they were with the previous, OS/2 based system.” According to Sentenac, Wells Fargo took “the rational steps you’d take to harden any operating system” with their new Windows ATM system. However, according to Sentenac, “the reality is you can’t buy a new ATM that runs OS/2. This is where the industry is.”

Speaking of where the industry is, you can see pictures of ATMs displaying the dreaded “blue screen of death” here.