95% of bank ATMs face end of security support (http://www.cnn.com)

Technology News – Cyber Security

Banks everywhere are in a race against time to upgrade their ATMs before they become hot targets for hackers.

An estimated 95% of American bank ATMs run on Windows XP, and Microsoft is killing off tech support for that operating system on April 8. That means Microsoft will no longer issue security updates to patch holes in Windows XP, leaving those ATMs exposed to new kinds of cyber-attacks.

Replacing the operating systems on ATMs is a major undertaking. In the United States, there are 210,500 bank ATMs, about 200,000 of which run on Windows XP, according to Retail Banking Research in London. In most cases, banks must upgrade the software one ATM at a time, and some will need the entire computer inside replaced too. Labor included, it’s a process that experts in the ATM industry say could cost anywhere between $1,000 and $3,500 apiece.

(Continue reading at http://www.cnn.com)

My Two Cents: Time to upgrade, I cannot believe that 95% of the ATMs are still running on Windows XP….crazy!