We all remember the most annoying Windows feature prompting to turn on the sticky keys when special keys like SHIFT, CTRL, ALT, and WINDOWS were pressed for 5 times. Well, this feature is not helping ATM machines. Most of the ATM machines in the world still run on the older versions of Windows mainly on the Windows XP which got its final update in April 2014. This means ATM machines are vulnerable to security threats.
A Russian user on a blog said that he discovered a flaw in ATM machine running on Windows XP just by pressing the SHIFT key 5 times. Waiting for his call to be picked at the terminal of Savings Bank, he pressed the SHIFT key present on the full keyboard like found in a computer to fight boredom, the user said. It is when suddenly a prompt popped up about the sticky keys feature. The prompt gives full access to Settings of Windows from Start menu. This opens a big security hole for attackers to hack the machine.
Even though the bank, Sberbank, knows about this problem has not taken any step in fixing the loophole, the user claimed. After informing the bank, he again visited the terminal and discovered that the bug hasn’t been fixed.
It’s really worrying as still there are many ATM machines running on Windows XP and it no longer receives any updates.
