Windows XP: Almost all ATMs starting April 8 with security leak

2.2 million ATMs are available worldwide. Most of them use Windows XP as an operating system, which is no longer supported by Microsoft on April 8 and will thus become a potential gateway for cyber attacks. In the worst case, total casualty of the vending machines, as well as the manipulation of data and the theft of money. We reported in our report on the IT problem with Windows XP in the Bundestag. Announcements and warnings on the part of Microsoft, XP 2017 “have been extinct”, since 2007 the switch has been overslept.


Now, just a few weeks before April 8, 2017, banks are forced to act. The IT infrastructure needs to be updated, and that will be expensive. Of the 2.2 million ATMs world-wide 95 percent under Windows XP run, one believes information from the Federal Office for Security in the Information Technology (BSI). In Great Britain, for example, the banks have to spend nearly 50 to 60 million pounds (approximately 70 million euros) on maintenance contracts with Microsoft, according to information from the Economic Week, Sridhar Athreya, head of the technology consulting firm SunGuard Consulting in London

The ATM maker NCR states that only about one third of the systems will be timed by the end of the Windows XP end date. The company Wincor Nixdorf, which is often found in the United States, is saying that the switch from XP to a new operating system in the United States has been on the banks' agenda for years. But not all of them had changed.


Some banks are going a different way. The Wirtschaftswoche reports that, for example, all 151 ATMs and 94 account withdrawal printers run under Windows XP at the Stuttgart Volksbank. The operators pay Microsoft for further technical support until 2017, rather than directly change. This could pay off, since the ATMs would soon be exchanged anyway, each financial house had to examine the situation individually for itself and through. An alternative to the expensive upgrade on Windows 7 would be free operating systems, such as Linux. In town administrations, the platform is already established in many places - and causes less costs.


How many of the banks will have changed in time and, above all, if you are there, please ask directly at your financial institution. Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft also stresses that customers need not worry about the fact that American ATMs are not connected to the Internet for maintenance, unlike the US or the UK. Therefore, according to Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft, you are free from security gaps, which hackers could gain access to. There is also special software to protect against attacks from outside.


Beyond the Atlantic, the situation is more relaxed. Doug Johnson, a risk manager at the US banking association, says the financial institutions are benefiting from the fact that Windows XP is "battle-struck". How much reliance on it remains to be seen. We will keep you posted.