ATM Malware Report issued by Europol and Trend Micro

Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and Trend Micro have announced the release of a new joint report, “ATM Malware on the Rise”, which offers a comprehensive overview of the ATM malware threat and the specific malware types in circulation.

With more than three million ATMs across the globe and the total number of cash withdrawals averaging around EUR 8.6 billion per year, ATMs are an attractive target for criminal attacks. Through the use of specially designed malware, attackers no longer need to use traditional safe cracking methods to empty an ATM’s money safe.

In this report, the first of its kind to offer such a comprehensive overview on the topic, Trend Micro and Europol highlight the increasing sophistication of cyber criminals in terms of how attacks are planned and orchestrated, using both new methods and techniques in conjunction with well-known attack vectors.

More information can be found on the Europol website.  To counter the ATM Malware threat Europol and the EAST Expert Group on ATM Fraud (EGAF) produced ‘Guidance & recommendations regarding logical attacks on ATMs’ in June 2015.  EAST EGAF continues to focus on the latest ATM malware and logical threats and what can be done to counter them.

This new and restricted report has been released to a closed audience consisting of law enforcement authorities, financial institutions and the IT security industry.  It has also been authorised for release to EAST Members (National and Associate).