State-run First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) said yesterday its clients’ rights would not be affected by an ATM-hacking incident over the weekend that saw it lose NT$70 million (US$2.2 million), as banks nationwide halted the use of ATMs made by the same German company.
The ATMs involved were made by Paderborn, Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf, a supplier of retail banking hardware, software and services.
First Commercial Bank, the banking arm of First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), said the hacking was limited to 34 ATMs at 20 branches in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taichung and the bank’s computer network was not compromised.
Photo: David Chang, EPA
It dismissed the possibility of an insider job, saying the bank has a strong firewall system and a preliminary inspection by external security experts did not find any trace of internal violations.
With more than 180 branches nationwide, First Bank has more than 700 ATMs in service. More than 300 are the same model as the ones hacked on Saturday and Sunday, the bank said.
It has suspended use of all Wincor ATMs pending an internal probe into the incident, the bank said, adding that it has conducted regular maintenance of the 10-year-old machines.
First Bank said it will cooperate with the judicial investigation into the incident.
Taiwan Cooperative Bank, the nation’s largest lender by number of branches, said it has halted service of more than 190 Wincor ATMs at branches nationwide to ensure transaction security.
Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (CHB, 彰銀) said it has 49 Wincor ATMs and has suspended the use of 39 of them.
The other 10 are inside three of its branches, and CHB said it would step up oversight of the ATMs’ functions.
Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀) said it has 89 Wincor ATMs and was evaluating whether to suspend their use.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) asked First Commercial Bank to investigate all the ATMs immediately after the hacking was reported.
“The money stolen has nothing to do with deposits, bank clients’ rights would not be affected,” Banking Bureau Director-General Austin Chan (詹庭禎) told a new conference yesterday.
The commission has also requested banks to inspect their ATM fleets to prevent a similar occurrence in Wincor models.
About 20 percent of domestic banks’ ATMs use the same Wincor model, Chan added.
Banks should check their security controls over these machines and decide if they need to be replaced, Chan said.
The commission has encouraged the development of financial technology for several years, but said companies should pay attention to security issues when developing such technology.
“After all, companies cannot deny the trend of digitalization,” Chan told reporters.
First Financial Bank said the hack was unrelated to its cardless ATM cash withdrawal service that it launched last month.
The bankers association said it would reinforce its existing security rules on ATMs, and establish a better monitoring system among computer terminals.
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