On Friday, we reported that there was malware for sale on the dark web that could apparently infect Bitcoin ATMs. The supposed malware had the power to trick the machine into dispensing $6,750 in Bitcoin to hackers. However, General Bytes – a Bitcoin ATM manufacturer – has come out and slammed this alleged malware developer as a scammer. After conducting its own research, it concluded that the specifications and technology used is not sufficient enough to compromise a Bitcoin ATM. According to General Bytes, the developer is merely a scammer extorting money from clueless individuals.
Discrepancies in the Hacker’s Account
The malware is for sale on the dark website ‘Wall St Market’, which is well known for malware sales and specializes in digital goods. Here, General Bytes highlighted a few discrepancies in the hackers account. The account shows that the seller has never sold any malware before and instead only sold leaked customer data, with leaked banks/credit scoring documents or bank accounts established based on those leaked customer details in the past. In addition to this, the account was only created in November 2017. This indicates that the seller has no experience in producing or selling malware of any kind – they are a mere data peddler.
Bitcoin ATMs Share Very Few Similarities to Fiat ATMs
The seller of the “malware” claims “purchasers of the malware receive a ready-to-use card that comes with EMV and NFC capabilities.” However, anyone with any experience using a Bitcoin ATM knows that EMV cards have nothing to do with ATMs. The seller also went into some detail about how the NFC can be exploited as well, however on General Byte Bitcoin ATMs – such as the ATMs Moon Zebra placed in Malta – the NFC is only there to read the destination cryptocurrency address. In addition to this, the seller also sells malware to infect fiat ATMs using the same tech. Here is another fundamental flaw – Bitcoin ATMs don’t have an admin or maintenance menu that is accessible from the machine itself.
Bitcoin ATMs Are Certainly Secure
Due to the decentralized nature of Bitcoin, the ATM network is far more secure than the fiat ATM network. This is due to the fact fiat ATMs operate on their own, without a collective hive mind that verifies transactions beforehand. The decentralized network would prevent any attack of this kind from ever occurring on a Bitcoin ATM. In addition to this, Bitcoin ATMs offer some of the strictest security protocols around to prevent hacking, fraud, and money loss. The crypto world can rest easy once again, knowing the network is safe from criminals who want to steal crypto from innocent companies.
Unfortunately, where there is money to be made criminals are always lurking. Most recently a group infected over 200,000 routers with crypto mining software through to a security flaw. While this flaw has been patched, hacks of this nature are still occurring on a near-daily basis. A handful of companies – like Salon.com – are beginning to use crypto mining as a way to enhance revenue and not show ads, and this could potentially be the future of free content websites.
Crypto ATMs live to fight another day thanks to the team at General Bytes. Hackers will always try to access these ATMs for nefarious purposes, but as long as they remain technologically superior and secure, we shouldn’t see too many problems.
