“Hackers broke into Citibank’s network of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores and stole customers’ PIN codes, according to recent court filings that revealed a disturbing security hole in the most sensitive part of a banking record,” Jordan Robertson reports for The Associated Press.

“The scam netted the alleged identity thieves millions of dollars. But more importantly for consumers, it indicates criminals were able to access PINs — the numeric passwords that theoretically are among the most closely guarded elements of banking transactions — by attacking the back-end computers responsible for approving the cash withdrawals,” Robertson reports.

“The case against three people in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York highlights a significant problem,” Robertson reports.

“Hackers are targeting the ATM system’s infrastructure, which is increasingly built on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system and allows machines to be remotely diagnosed and repaired over the Internet,” Robertson reports.

“A critical issue in the investigation is how the hackers infiltrated the system, a question that still hasn’t been answered publicly,” Robertson reports. “All that’s known is they broke into the ATM network through a server at a third-party processor, which means they probably didn’t have to touch the ATMs at all to pull off the heist.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "HMCIV" for the heads up.]

ATM IT Doofus #1: “Let’s make an ATM network based on the world’s most insecure OS, okay?” ATM IT Doofus #2: “Sounds like a plan!”

—   —   —

Peter explained, “Um, the 7-Eleven, right? You take a penny from the tray.”

Joanna asked, “From the crippled children?”

Peter replied, “No, that’s the jar. I’m talking about the tray, the pennies for everybody.”

Later…

Joanna, “You’re just this penny-stealing… wanna-be criminal… man.”

Peter, “Yeah, well, that may be. But at least I never slept with Lumbergh.”