ATMs in Thailand Hacked

A gang of Eastern European criminals has stolen $350,000 by hacking Thailand’s state-owned Government Savings Bank ATM network. The crooks installed malware to siphon their proceeds from 21 ATMs in Bangkok and five other provinces.

The Central Bank of Thailand has issued a warning to all commercial banks about security flaws in approximately 10,000 ATMs that were exploited to steal cash from the machines.

The Government Savings Bank (GSB) partially shut down its system after finding out about the hack. The machines in question are the Scottish NCR brand, self-proclaimed "world leader in consumer transaction technologies" and popular with other banks in the region.

GSB President Chartchai Payuhanaveechai told the local media that the bank has reviewed security camera footage and identified potential suspects as foreign nationals who infected their cash machines with malware that forced them to dispense cash.

Payuhanaweechai also ensured its customers that they are not affected by the theft as the gang's malware only tricked the bank ATMs to release cash without authorization, not from customers' accounts.

Thai police suspect that the culprits in this incident are connected to the attack on the recent Taiwanese ATM network in which $2.5 million was stolen.

It should be clear by now that cyber-criminals are looking for any weak links in the global banking system. In a world in which banking practices are being harmonized by way of computer hardware and software, geography and cultural differences are no longer barriers to crime.