Worm infects ATM machines of two US financial institutions

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Nov. 26, 2003

According to several news reports, two U.S. financial institutions were hit with a computer worm that invaded automated teller machines (ATMs) running Windows XP Embedded, in August. The ATMs were manufactured by Diebold, one of the world's leading ATM suppliers.

According to NewScientist.com, the culprit was a worm called Welchia, which caused an overload of traffic on the network resulting in the ATMs being shut down. Welchia reportedly exploited a vulnerability in Windows XP Embedded's RPC DCOM function.

Another report, at SecurityFocus.com, says the attack was an exploit of the Windows XP Embedded RPC DCOM vulnerability by Nachi, a descendent of the Blaster worm. SecurityFocus.com says that a patch for the RPC DCOM vulnerability had been available from Microsoft more than a month before the incident, but had not been installed in the ATMs.

Both reports agree that this is the first known case of a worm actually installing itself on an ATM machine's embedded operating system. Earlier in 2003, the Blaster worm shut down Bank of America ATMs, but only by causing a flood of traffic that clogged the network's bandwidth, NewScientist says.

The incident underlines the importance of monitoring Microsoft's security bulletins and installing patches, as recommended. But it also points up the difficulty presented by advanced operating systems being used in devices which are passed down a distribution chain, since the end users of the devices are not necessarily aware of security vulnerabilities that arise, or patches to protect their devices.

Read NewScientist.com story

Read SecurityFocus.com story

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