DefCon hacker conference participants were in for a nasty surprise this year. A fake ATM kiosk set up in the Riviera Hotel Casino in Vegas was discovered during the conference. What is not known is if it was set up by one of the hackers in order to trick their associates, or if it was sent up by someone with a more evil purpose.
Given how tight casino security typically is, you have to find it terribly amusing that they have no idea how long the fake ATM was sitting there, how much information was captured by it, or who put it there. The ATM was placed in such a way as to be invisible to the security cameras placed throughout the casino, yet also directly in front of the security office.
Security authorities have seized the device, which was set up to capture card data.
Rofl this is great. And at Defcon too.
Honestly, where the hell does one get an ATM? Why would they sell those to the general public?
Either security at casinos isn’t as good as people think, or it was an inside job.
Too funny. Seriously, never trust third-party ATMs. Practically anyone can buy one and set them up. And carefully check out your bank-owned ATMs — if you can confidently determine that the machine is owned/managed by your bank.
uh actually, it was one of the defcon participants who DISCOVERED the fake atm just by eyballing it, and rather quickly too.
The ATM was there before the convention and placed next to the security office doorway, one of the few areas that didn’t have a camera, so they don’t know who planted it there.
makes more sense now, something about the ATM was sketchy (had a bunch of wires and Ethernet ports hanging out behind it)
the CON is ON
Conference attendees will be attentive to passing females, the location of the free coffee at the conference, the time the next speaker is scheduled to start yacking, the time they can first take a break and shoot some craps, but even a DefCon attendee is unlikely to be vigilant at hotel ATM.
I saw the ATM and it Looked shady but I was more concered that it may have been hacked not that it was a fake. The news reported it was hauled away, which was untrue, it was actualy uplugged for most of the confrence.
With identity theft on the rise, it is necessary to be aware of how thieves operate and what you can do to protect yourself.