CAPE TOWN, South Africa and BROOKINGS, S.D. — The Global ATM Security Alliance (www.globalasa.com) has published its international best practices for ATM Cyber Security.
According to a news release, the publication was made necessary by the ATM industry’s entry into its cyber era, due to the twin migrations from X25 & frame relay to TCP/IP and from OS/2 to Windows XP.
Whereas GASA’s General Cyber Security Manual, published last month, will help ATM companies with computer and network security at the corporate level, this new ATM-specific cyber security manual will afford Windows-based ATMs a greater degree of defense against malware, hacking toolkits and utilities, denial of service attacks and other cyber threats.
The manual was authored by the Bank of Western Australia’s IT Technical Compliance Manager, Ian Simpson, after practical tests on the security of Windows-based ATMs. Simpson worked with GASA’s Cyber Security Project Team to fine tune his cutting-edge security guidelines.
"Financial institutions and ATM operators are replacing and upgrading aging automatic teller machine fleets across the globe in order to satisfy regulatory and business imperatives," Simpson said. "Consequently, new platforms utilizing mainstream."
The recommendations presented in this manual are designed to provide a commonsense approach to risk mitigation as a result of the rapidly changing threat model created by the introduction to the ATM channel of the Windows XP and other common-use operating systems, as well as the TCP/IP network protocol suite.
"The ATM Cyber Security Manual should be read in conjunction with its companion manual about general cyber security to ensure a secure transition into the new cyber era," said Mike Lee, CEO of ATMIA and founding coordinator of GASA. "In addition, we have developed a Continuous Cyber Security Process (CCSP) white paper to be proactive in fighting what might be the next wave of ATM crime — namely cyber attacks."
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