Your hard earned money is not safe in banks. Yes! We are saying so because the bank ATMs are still running on outdated software. As per the report from Huffington, the Indian banks ATMs are still using Windows XP software which is an outdated one. With the usage of outdated software, the Bank ATMs are very much vulnerable which could open doors for the hackers to crack in and theft all your money.
Irrespective of constant warnings about the same for about five years, Indian banks haven't taken this issue seriously. Foreseeing the vulnerability of this, RBI has issued a circular last week asking the banks to upgrade the software in the given time frame. The RBI has asked the banks to improve their ATMs within a year failing to which the banks might have to face stern action.
With banks still using Windows XP, the unpatched systems are at high risk of cyber attacks. A similar attack called ATMich infected banks in Russia with malware that gave the hackers easy access to the bank which resulted in money theft from the customers.
Moreover, a similar incident happened in Taiwan where hackers managed to gain access for at least 41 ATMs and steal around $2.5 million. These attacks are specifically targeted at the systems using Windows XP. A mere software update can avoid such incidents.
Initially released in the year 2001, Windows XP was one of the most popular operating systems from Microsoft. The company stopped supporting the OS in the year 2014 wherein Microsoft stopped new security patch development. Despite various warnings, Indian banks are still running the outdated Windows XP on their ATMs software causing a security risk.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 27, 2018 06:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).