More ATM Trouble

As if default master passwords for storefront ATMs weren't bad enough, reader Jesse Waites writes in to remind us that default combinations for some ATM vaults, where the money is stored, are also printed in the manuals.

I knew that, and I wasn't terribly interested in that aspect of last month's cash machine follies, because there's no way to get to the safe without opening the front panel, which has a mechanical lock.

But Waites discovered that you can legally purchase keys for the panels of Triton, Tranax and other ATMs from online parts dealers, which suggests rather strongly that each unit within a model family is keyed the same.

Here are photographs of a Tranax ATM key I legally obtained through the internet. I did not misrepresent myself in any way (I wasn't questioned for that matter). As you can see from the pictures the key is already notched and ready to go. The machines all come with a default lock, and this is the key to that lock.

If you own or operate one of these machines, make sure you've changed the combination from the factory setting.

On the bright side, ATMs are no worse than Diebold voting machines.

Related posts:

1. ATM Hack Uncovered
2. ATM Crime Spree Imminent?
3. Patch Coming for ATM Issue
4. ATM Hack Round-Up: Report From the Field
5. Triton Reacts to ATM Hacks
   6) ATM Cash Capers Spotted Last Year