ATMs in 14 European nations under cyber-attack, as claimed by a report of a Russian cyber security firm.

London/Moscow : Thousands of ‘ATM machines‘ in the European banking sector of 14 countries have been the targets of cyber attacks has been reported by a Russian cyber security firm. ‘ATM machines‘ manufacturers ‘NCR‘ and ‘Diebold Nixdorf‘ too have confirmed these reports. Cyber attacks have been launched on leading nations like Britain, Netherlands, Spain and Poland, however, the names of the banks have not been disclosed. The recent cyber attack on Britain’s ‘Tesco‘ bank has reported a heavy loss of £ 2.5m.

‘Group IB‘ a Russian cyber security firm in its publication has mentioned about the recent cyber attacks in Europe. According to the information released by ‘Group IB‘ thousands of ‘ATM machines ‘ in 14 European countries have been the targets of these cyber attacks. It seems that the hackers with the help of ‘Malware‘ have accessed the bank networks forcing the ‘ATM machines‘ to dispense large amounts of cash. Although a total loss incurred in these attacks is as yet not known, it can be estimated to be crores of Euro dollars.

Four months back, ‘ATM machines‘ of two banks in Taiwan and Thailand in East Asia were similarly targeted. Almost $ 30 m were robbed in the attack. It is however felt that the cyber attacks being on a larger scale in Europe, the financial losses also seem heavier. ‘Group IB‘ claims that a group of hackers named ‘Cobalt‘ in East Europe are responsible for these cyber attacks.

Earlier, the pattern of cyber attacks on the banking sectors included methods like ‘ stealing ATM Pin to withdraw cash’, ‘tampering with the wire transfers‘, or ‘stealing from online banking networks‘. However attacking the ‘ATM machines ‘ seems to be the latest form of cyber attacks whose intensity and coverage seems getting wider, thus cautions the Russian cyber security company.

The ‘Federal Bureau of Investigation’, the highest investigating agency in US, earlier this month has given a special alert in relation to this. The banks have been cautioned against cyber attacks on ‘ ATM machines’ in the country. The cyber attacks on the Russian banking sector have also been mentioned in these alerts. That the cyber hackers group is targeting the financial sector of US is a guaranteed information, claims FBI.