You have probably heard about credit card skimmers. They are devices placed over the card reader to steal your card information.
But according to a new study from Kaspersky Lab, a cybersecurity company, hackers are turning the entire ATM into a skimmer.
"The key is, how did they get access to these ATMs to get malware installed on them," said Curt Miller, a local information technology expert and founder of Anexeon.
He explained how these hackers get their programs inside the ATMs.
"There are two ways of infecting computers," he said. "One is to try and hack through the firewall from the outside. That's the hard way. The easy way is to prey on the people that don't know the difference."
Miller said it is like any emailscam you may have heard of.
He said the cybercriminals most likely send the bad virus through emails, so people inside the banks' networks open them allowing the virus a direct path into the system and into the ATMs.
"They're preying on people not knowing the safety of what to click on and what not to click on," said Miller. "It's far easier to infect a facility from the inside than it is to try and hack in from the outside."
The virus lets the hacker access the money or personal information of anyone who used the ATM. But just looking at them, you cannot see anything different about ATM with the virus and ATMs that are safe.
So how do you protect yourself? Miller has a few suggestions:
-Report your credit card as lost to get a new credit card number
-don't let online shopping sites save your credit card
-Go into the bank, instead of using ATMs
