ATMRIPPER

ATMRIPPER is a Trojan that collects money from automated teller machines (ATMs). Although ATMRIPPER is a sophisticated threat that incorporates several methods of camouflaging its presence, withdrawing funds requires coordination between the Trojan and a physically present threat actor. Relevant businesses should monitor their ATM security protocols for preventing initial infections and use appropriate anti-malware methods for removing ATMRIPPER before con artists can exploit its presence.

The Latest Threat Ripping Through Thai Finances

There is a world of difference between the classic 'script kiddy' who uses a bare minimum of coding talent to launch a threat campaign and a group of experienced threat authors who enact their attacks with a strict degree of professionalism and organization. Although nearly anyone may rent a new version of a kit-based Trojan, such as various types of corrupted file encryptors, software advanced enough to target an ATM system is another story. Recent embezzling attacks against Thai ATM vendors show just how sharp that difference can be with the unmitigated success of ATMRIPPER's campaign.

These attacks coincided with an unknown user uploading a sample of ATMRIPPER to VirusTotal, a well-known anti-malware database. Through this sample, malware researchers and other industry experts gathered useful information about ATMRIPPER, which seems to borrow the components of several, prior families of threats. Its payload's primary objective is allowing con artists to withdraw up to forty bank notes, but only after the con artist inserts a customized card into the teller machine.

Some of ATMRIPPER's other attributes malware researchers found noteworthy include:

• ATMRIPPER shares the PadPin Trojan's ability to disable network communications. The latest ATMRIPPER attack used this function for the probable purpose of preventing any interference from bank network security features, with the affected machines being offline for the duration of the money withdrawals.
• ATMRIPPER also shares SUCEFUL's ability to control the ATM's Card Reader. Cards can be ejected or read according to the commands that the threat actor provides.
• Another of ATMRIPPER's features corresponds to an attack related to yet a third ATM-targeting Trojan, GreenDispenser. Both of these threats take advantage of a secure deletion tool, delete, to remove evidence related to the infection.

Stopping a Trojan from Ripping Through Your Bottom Line

ATMRIPPER is a highly professionally-coded threat with limited symptoms beyond the lack of network activity taking place during the physical withdrawal of funds. One of its greatest limitations also showcases the organization behind its group of threat actors: the requirement for a custom ATM card with a corrupted EMV chip for the money transfer process. This feature isn't unique to ATMRIPPER; malware analysts also see it in a minority of other threats, such as the Skimmer family, but it is a rare characteristic.

The ATMRIPPER campaign has collected nearly four hundred thousand in funds from the ATMs of one Thai-based vendor and is fully compatible with additional vendors throughout the world. Based on the degree of conduct evidenced by ATMRIPPER's operators, this Trojan soon may make itself known in other countries.

Having close physical monitoring of your business's automated teller machines can prevent con artists from installing ATMRIPPER or returning to benefit from its money-siphoning features. Since many major brands of teller machines are at risk, malware analysts strongly encourage that businesses at risk also keep all security solutions completely patched to their latest versions and strive to eliminate any needless vulnerabilities.

In some areas, going backward can be progressing forwards, particularly in a threat campaign. Coordinating physical attacks with an ATMRIPPER infection isn't necessarily simple but can pay con artists in a vast amount of other people's money.