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Hackers expose security risk in bank network

Security was breached at Citibank when hackers stole PIN codes from a number of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores, according to reports.

By hacking into the computers responsible for accepting cash withdrawals thieves were able to access a large number of PIN codes and gain millions of dollars.

Avivah Litan, a security analyst with Gartner research firm, said: "PINs were supposed be sacrosanct, what this shows is that PINs aren't always encrypted like they're supposed to be. The banks need much better fraud detection systems and much better authentication."

Internet security experts are now calling for PIN numbers to be protected with stronger encryption codes so they can not be as easily accessed by hackers.

Don Jackson, director of threat intelligence for SecureWorks Inc., said: "This was fairly large, but I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary, these kinds of scams go on every day. There are a whole lot of other ATM and PIN compromises going on that aren't reported."

Citibank has over 5,000 ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores across the whole of the United States of America.

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