Dashpay Magazine: Taiwanese ATM Funds Theft Showcasess Versatility of Cryptocurrency

in #money8 years ago

There are many arguments to be made as to why cryptocurrency is more secure than traditional finance. A recent occurrence in Taiwan allowed hackers to withdraw funds from ATMs without using a bank card. For now, it remains a complete mystery as to how this is possible. Cryptocurrency ATMs have never suffered from any of these attacks, since there is no way to trick the system.

Plundering Bank ATMs Without A Card

Several dozen Taiwanese bank ATMs have been “attacked” by criminals who emptied the machines. A total of US$2m has been stolen so far, and all of the thefts occurred using devices belonging to Taiwan’s First Bank. Interestingly enough, none of the withdrawals were made using a bank card.

According to official sources, the assailants managed to control the First Bank ATMs by using their smartphones. It remains unknown how the connection with the ATMs were mader, albeit it is not unlikely malware was used. It looks as if a lot of work went into planning this attack, as everything was well-coordinated.

All of the affected machines are manufactured by Wincor Nixdorf, a German company world-renowned for their infrastructure technology. Interestingly enough, their machines are used by eight of the major banks in Taiwan. All of those institutions have suspended ATM services – affecting 900 devices – until they can be certain there is no way to abuse the system.

Some of the assailants were caught on CCTV, clearly displaying two individuals wearing hats and masks. They withdraw a lot of money in several attempts. All in all, it only took a handful of minutes to clean out an individual bank ATM. So far, police reports make a mention of three individuals on their suspect list, and there are some indicators the individuals may have ties to Russia.

Luckily, no customer deposits were affected during this incident. First Banks tated how none of the ATM withdrawals were made through the regular bank accounting system. This net loss of US$2m in funds will not sit well with the company, though. Once again, this is a clear example of why traditional finance is is very fragile.

Cryptocurrency Is Much Safer

Unlike their traditional counterparts, ATM devices dealing with cryptocurrency can not be exploited so easily. The software on the devices is much more secure compared to what banks have to offer. Since there are no card slots involved it is all but impossible to make unauthorized purchases or withdrawals.

At its core, cryptocurrency is a much safer bet than any banking system as well. There is no need to trust third parties holding onto consumer funds. Users can store and spend their money as they see fit. Full financial control comes with many responsibilities, but it also adds more layer of security to the process.


Written by JP Buntuinx | ATM Fund Theft in Taiwan Showcases The Versatility of Cryptocurrency


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Keep up the great work @dashpaymag
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yes, cool post!

there is something wrong :3 ...

Totally agree that cryptocurrency is a much safer than the traditional banking.
Very soon i hope to see SteemIt exclusive ATM.

Good work dash, I do agree with you that crypto CAN be safer, but only to someone who knows how to use it and secure it. The reason we see premiums on something like GBTC the bitcoin fund run by Barry Silbert is because many people are so afraid of storing their own coins they are willing to pay a 75% markup for someone to store and secure the coins for them. I think the world will definitely change as we get more used to the idea, but then again after the recent twitter password hack which had like 100k people with the password "password" im not so sure lol. Regardless keep up the good work.

The first half of this article is great, but I think the last part of the article is build upon Jump To Conclusion fallacy, making me believe that I will see this in the GRE Analytic Writing's argument section in the future.

"""Unlike their traditional counterparts, ATM devices dealing with cryptocurrency can not be exploited so easily. (WHY?) The software on the devices is much more secure compared to what banks have to offer. (WHY MUCH SECURE?) Since there are no card slots involved it is all but impossible to make unauthorized purchases or withdrawals. (What happened in Taiwan did not involve card slots as well. How may you draw the conclusion that no-card-slots results in a more safe nature?) """

Alright, I am getting too serious...

No offence. I just hope to see better defence of crytpocurrency :D
Conclusion drawed too soon is usually dangerous.

I think it's a bit rich to say that crypto currency is much safer. There are different risks involved in crypto currency and the default situation is the person loses their money. It doesn't help adoption of crypto currencies to give people a false sense of security. What does help is to highlight how risky managing money is and warn people to understand the risks.

In the ATM theft, no customers lost any of their money and the police were able to recover 75% of the stolen funds.

police were able to arrest three suspects and retrieve about NT$60 million of the stolen money on Sunday.
Source

Agree with @djleo
People use Bitcoins and any other coins need to heed on their keys while in banking systems we keep debit cards, bank books, and passwords. Storing private information digitally, like @djleo mentioned, would expose people in difference risks, as has been revealed in recent hard forks.

There are pros and cons in both but crypto currency is very risky due to up and down nature of the market if you are willing to risk it than should should consider or stay away.

It's just a matter of time until traditional fiat will be replaced by crypto.

We my friends are the first generation. Let us show the world the beauty of cryptos

Just look at all the repeated thefts on SWIFT.

Seems not a week goes by when we don't get more news on more money being stolen from this antiquated and laughably insecure system.

Unfortunately we still have to deal with this because for most of us it is impossible to live and survive without engaging with the established banking system.

I look forward to the day when crypto can take over and we will no longer be slaves to the banksters.

@dashpaymag Thank you for information. Keep calm and do post like this :)