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A nationwide ATM heist late last year netted thieves $9 million in cash in one day, according to published reports. The coordinated attack stemmed from a computer intrusion at payment processor RBS WorldPay. Atlanta-based RBS WorldPay announced on Dec. 23 that hackers had broken into its database and made off with personal and financial data on 1.5 million customers of its payroll cards business. Some companies use payroll cards in lieu of paychecks by depositing employee salaries or hourly wages directly into payroll card accounts, which can then be used as debit cards at ATMs. RBS said that thieves also might also have accessed Social Security numbers of 1.1 million customers. New York's Fox 5 cites FBI sources as saying that thieves used the stolen payroll cards recently to withdraw $9 million from ATMs from 49 cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Montreal, Moscow, and Hong Kong. Steve Lazarus, a spokesman for the FBI's Atlanta field office, said the withdrawals were carried out by a small army of so-called "cashers," or people who work with cyber thieves and fabricated cards to pull money out of compromised accounts. From the Fox piece: "Shortly after midnight Eastern Time on November 8, the FBI believes that dozens of the so-called cashers were used in a coordinated attack of ATM machines around the world."

Cybercriminals are improving a malicious software program that can be installed on ATMs running Microsoft's Windows XP operating system that records sensitive card details, according to security vendor Trustwave. The malware has been found on ATMs in Eastern European countries, according to a Trustwave report. The malware records the magnetic stripe information on the back of a card as well as the PIN (Personal Identification Number), which would potentially allow criminals to clone the card in order to withdraw cash.

Windows XP is an obvious choice to run ATMs! Sigh!

While most banking institutions focus their anti-skimming attention on unattended ATMs, such as those located at off-site locations like convenience stores or islands, these recent schemes prove that ATMs in plain sight, at the branch, could be the fraudster's best target.

"Consumers who have received a data breach notification letter are four times more likely than others to be the victim of identity theft, according to a survey released this week by Javelin Strategy and Research. Approximately 11 percent of U.S. consumers have received a data breach notification letter in the past 12 months with a third of the breaches involving Social Security numbers and 15 percent involving ATM PINs, according to Javelin's third annual survey of nearly 5,000 U.S. consumers, released Tuesday. Of those who have received a data breach notification letter in the past year, 19.5 percent said they were the victims of fraud associated with identity theft, compared to 4.3 percent who have not received a notification but were victimized. "It wasn't just a statistical anomaly," Robert Vamosi, a Javelin risk fraud and security analyst and the author of the study, told SCMagazineUS.com on Wednesday. "In 2007 and 2006, we saw a similar pattern, so this isn't a blip. This is something that has been going on for a while.""

Two things to remember as you prepare to file your taxes: If you get an e-mail from the IRS, it's probably a scam. And don't forget the stamp. As the April 15 tax filing date nears, online tax-related scams tend to ratchet up, experts say. If you're not careful, you could lose a lot more than just the refund. "Filing your taxes online is extremely convenient, however if you want to maintain the privacy of your data, you need to ensure that you are connecting to the proper Web site, that the connection is using encryption, and that your computer is free from any malware. If any of these components are compromised then your data is not safe," Ryan Barnett, director of application security research for Breach Security, said on Friday. "This would be like going to an ATM machine to withdraw money and allowing everyone around you to see your PIN number as you punch it in," he added. Not only do people have to take precautions in storing and transmitting their data over the Internet, but they also have to be wary of social engineering-type ruses that scammers use to trick people into giving out their sensitive data. Probably the most common type of tax season scam is the fake IRS phishing e-mail. These e-mails will either claim to be a tax refund or an offer to help file for a refund, settle tax debt, or other aid. (Not long ago, scammers were offering economic stimulus payments, even before the plan was approved.) They will provide a link to a Web site where the visitor is prompted to type in personal data like a Social Security number. Don't trust it, experts say.

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Financial fraud last year caused 7.5 percent of all adults in the United States to lose money, largely because of data breaches. That's the finding of a survey conducted by Stamford, Conn. research firm Gartner. The survey polled 5,000 U.S. adults and also found that when compared with average consumers, nearly twice as many people who lost money to fraud changed their shopping, payment, and e-commerce behavior. In particular, victims of electronic checking and/or savings account transfer fraud were nearly five times more likely to change banks because of security concerns. "Fraud victims are also more cautious about which brick-and-mortar stores they shop at and how they pay for goods when they get there, demonstrating more awareness of the risk of data breaches," said Avivah Litan, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, in a news release. High-tech crimes, such as data breaches (which typically involve hacking into enterprise systems) and phishing attacks against consumers, are the most prevalent causes of payment card fraud. Gartner found that financial losses were highest with new-account, credit card and brokerage fraud, with average losses per incident totaling $1,097, $929 and $900, respectively. However, victims of brokerage, credit card and debit/ATM card fraud find it easiest to recover their losses, receiving an average of 100 percent, 86 percent, and 77 percent of the funds stolen, respectively.