ATM “black box” – A New Attack to Dispense Money from ATM Terminal

Attackers have adopted a new attack method that includes connecting an external device and also contains parts of the software stack of the attacked ATM.

ATM manufacturer Diebold Nixdorf alerted that they spotted an increase in several jackpotting attacks with black boxes against ProCash terminals in certain European countries.

New black box Attack Type

Jackpotting attack is a type of physical attack in which attackers need to gain Physical access to the targeting ATM Machine.

Then they would connect their device the “black box”, to the dispenser and targets the communication to the cash-handling device directly.

Based on the new incidents Diebold Nixdorf observed that attackers are destroying fascia(front door) of the ATM to gain physical access to the head compartment.

Once they gained access than the “USB cable between the CMD-V4 dispenser and the special electronics, or the cable between special electronics and the ATM PC, was unplugged.”

The unplugged cable connected with a black box of the attacker to dispense the case from the ATM illegally.

In some incidents, it was spotted that the black box contains individual parts of the software stack of the attacked ATM.

“The investigation into how these parts were obtained by the fraudster is ongoing. One possibility could be via an offline attack against an unencrypted hard disc”, reads the PDF report published by Diebold Nixdorf.

Diebold Nixdorf recommended implementing proper countermeasures to thwart these types of attacks and to protect the ATM fleet. Also recommended to check event alerts at regular intervals.

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ATM Black box attacks – ATM Jackpotting