Today Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and Trend Micro have announced the release of their latest joint report, “ATM Malware on the Rise,” which offers a comprehensive overview of the ATM malware threat and the specific malware types in circulation.

With more than three million ATMs across the globe and the total number of cash withdrawals averaging around EUR 8.6 billion per year, ATMs are an attractive target for criminal attacks. Through the use of specially designed malware, attackers no longer need to use traditional safe cracking methods to empty an ATM’s money safe.  

In this report, the first of its kind to offer such a comprehensive overview on the topic, Trend Micro and Europol highlight the increasing sophistication of cybercriminals in terms of how attacks are planned and orchestrated, using both new methods and techniques in conjunction with well-known attack vectors. 

“Logical attacks on ATMs are now recognized as a developing threat by the industry and law enforcement, and EC3 has already assisted a number of national police forces in successful investigations of this emerging crime threat,” said Steven Wilson, Head of EC3. “This report lists a number of key recommendations to address this growing crime trend both in preventive and investigative areas, and can serve as a valuable reference document to coordinate activities to tackle organized crime’s expansion into this area of criminality.”

“Trend Micro’s collaboration with EC3 reinforces our longstanding belief that technology, security and law enforcement organizations must continuously collaborate to help stay ahead of sophisticated cybercriminals,” said Raimund Genes, chief technology officer, Trend Micro. “This report will not only help law enforcement agencies mitigate potential, future threats, but be instrumental in the financial services industry to help protect individuals who trust these institutions with their assets and livelihood.”

This report has been released to a closed audience consisting of law enforcement authorities, financial institutions and the IT security industry.

About EC3

Hosted at Europol’s headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands, the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) was launched in 2013 to coordinate cross-border law enforcement activities against cybercrime and to act as a centre of technical expertise on the matter. For more information, visit: www.europol.europa.eu/ec3

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in security software, strives to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Built on 27 years of experience, our solutions for consumers, businesses and governments provide layered data security to protect information on mobile devices, endpoints, gateways, servers and the cloud. Trend Micro enables the smart protection of information, with innovative security technology that is simple to deploy and manage, and fits an evolving ecosystem. All of our solutions are powered by cloud-based global threat intelligence, the Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ infrastructure, and are supported by more than 1,200 threat experts around the globe. For more information, visit TrendMicro.com.

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