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Metabase Q uncovers new strain of ATM malware in Latin America 03 March 2021
Source: Metabase Q Metabase Q Inc., the leader in securing Latin American organizations from cyber attacks, today announced that the company s security research division, Ocelot, has discovered a new variant of Ploutus, one of the most sophisticated ATM malware families worldwide. Discovered for the first time in 2013, Ploutus enables criminals to empty ATMs by taking advantage of ATM middleware vulnerabilities via an externally connected device. This new variant, dubbed Ploutus-I, builds upon capabilities of prior strains and is tailored to control ATMs from the Brazilian vendor Itautec. Instances of this variant have been seen in attacks across major banks in the region. Further detail is in the blog published
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In 2017, FireEye published research into Ploutus-D, an earlier variant of the ATM malware. (Source: FireEye)
ATMs across Latin America have been persistently targeted over the last eight years by organized criminals seeking to jackpot the machines, triggering them to disgorge their cash.
The attacks typically involve installing malware directly on an ATM by breaking into the device s cabinet to gain direct access to its physical ports and drives. In the early days, around 2013, this involved using a CD boot disk to install the malware, dubbed Ploutus.
Now, researchers with Mexico-based Metabase Q, a cybersecurity services company, have uncovered a new version called Ploutus-I. This fifth known iteration of Ploutus was first seen in Mexico. Metabase Q strongly suspects its development has been closely connected with organized criminals, perhaps based in Venezuela (see: