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The 'KISS' principle for Windows 7, EMV upgrades

September 19, 2013 by Corey King — Sales, American Bank Equipment

EMV, Windows 7, ADA, PCI … have you found yourself overwhelmed and confused with all the compliance and upgrade talk that has been going on for the past few years about ATMs? I'm a "K.I.S.S." principle type of person and find the volume of information suffocating and confusing — yet know it's all important!

That being the case, I wanted to review the really important things about the latest ATM upgrade and compliance talk in the simplest terms possible.

Josh Banta, VP of service and technical sales at Data Business Equipment in Des Moines, Iowa, is an expert on ATMs so I posed a few questions about things I was curious about and thought you might be too …

Q: How does Microsoft's ending support for Windows XP affect the ATM Industry?

A: Have you wondered about this and how it would affect the ATMs you service or have in your fleet? I know many do.

According to Josh, "The main impact from this change will be the need to upgrade hardware to make it compatible with the new operating system."

As hard as it is to believe after ADA, more upgrades and replacements are needed, regardless of the brand of ATMs you operate or service.

Yes, more time and cost is coming, which is why Josh said, "I encourage all institutions to reach out to their trusted ATM provider for assistance in determining the viability of their ATM fleet."

The deadline is coming next year and we've noticed an increase in requests for upgrades and replacements since June. It's very important not to wait until the last minute because, as we learned with ADA, costs go up and the chances of meeting deadlines go down the closer we get to critical dates.

Q: If some ATMs are still running Windows XP after the deadline, what risks does this expose the operator to?

A: It doesn't take long to look around your town and find some banks that still do not have ADA compliant machines, so some may be tempted to also minimize the need to upgrade to Windows 7.

This is what Josh had to say about the risks:

The question of exposure is a bit tricky to answer. We have all heard the news stories of network attacks and attempted fraud at the ATM channel. The hope is that most will never have to deal with that reality.
The more daunting task may be pleasing regulators. All PC's in an institution's network are required to be patched when patches become available from Microsoft. Most don't consider the ATM in that process because it is often protected behind a router or firewall by the network provider.
When Microsoft ends support for Windows XP, they will no longer provide patches and updates for security threats. This will make it easy for the regulators to single out ATMs that are still running Windows XP and institutions may be put in the position of justifying why patching is not being done.

Q: How are EMV upgrades tied in to Windows 7 software?

A: The two seem to be tied together, but they are separate issues.

Logically, many operators are combining the upgrade to EMV (e.g., smart card readers) with Windows 7 core upgrades, but they don't have to be done at the same time.

For banks that want to add the security aspects of EMV now, Josh said, "If EMV is important to a bank and needs to be done now, there are versions of software in the XP environment that can be rolled out today."

The key, as with Windows 7, is to meet with your trusted partners and review your ATM Fleet to decide the best choice for your institution.

Q: Compared to the ADA rush a couple years ago, how seriously are FIs taking the upcoming deadlines for Windows 7 and EMV?

A: There has been a noticeable increase in requests for upgrade items and replacement machines. Many have concluded that even if they kept their older machines during ADA, it's time now to move onto newer technology, better looking machines and software offerings to compete with the "Big Boys."

The great thing about the Windows 7 upgrade is that very creative software services and advertising can be affordable now even for smaller banks. As recently noted in the State Journal Register in Springfield, Ill., we are in "the most innovative period ever" for ATMs.

For someone like me who likes to keep things simple (i.e., K.I.S.S. Principle), I hope the answers to these questions help ease your decision making about what you ought to do, what you want to do and what you have to do for Windows 7 and EMV upgrades.

Read more about security.

About Corey King

Corey King works with American Bank Equipment "supporting companies that have boots on the ground." He has extensive experience working with and for ATM sales and service organizations and writes from a parts, machine, compliance and upgrade perspective.

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