News

NCR sells 50,000th license of leading anti-skimming software for ATMs

April 5, 2009

DAYTON, Ohio — NCR Corp. has sold more than 50,000 licenses of Solidcore for APTRA, an ATM software security solution that prohibits the introduction of unauthorized code to an ATM.

Solidcore Systems Inc. is a California-based provider of technology for IT infrastructures, from devices to data centers.

According to a news release, Solidcore for APTRA protects the system from inside-out skimming attacks. These attacks, similar to those recently perpetrated in Russia, involve the insertion of malicious code onto the ATM — usually by someone with insider access to ATM.

Integrated within the NCR APTRA Software Security solution, Solidcore for APTRA preserves system integrity and prevents malware on ATMs. More than 100 NCR customers around the world have turned to NCR to provide Solidcore for APTRA on their single and multivendor ATM networks.

"While the industry only focused on network threats such as viruses and worms, NCR recognized that the underlying risk to any system was unauthorized software from any source — particularly the growing risk of insider fraud," said Rosen Sharma, chief technology officer for Solidcore. "NCR combined its awareness of IT threats with an in-depth knowledge of financial industry delivery channels such as the ATM and tailored the Solidcore runtime control and white-listing technology to the unique 24/7 needs of these self-service channels to protect them from unauthorized code."

Rather than reacting to known attacks as they arise, Solidcore for APTRA proactively allows only authorized code to run. Specifically, Solidcore for APTRA automatically creates and updates the inventory of good code and limits the runtime environment to the code in that inventory or white list.

In addition, authorized code cannot be modified, deleted or hijacked — the process in which malicious code replaces authorized code with itself.

"NCR is determined to continue leading the industry in safeguarding the trust and integrity of the ATM channel," said Michael O'Laughlin, vice president and general manager of NCR Financial Services Solutions. "Through our APTRA Security Practices and solutions, NCR is protecting ATMs and other consumer end points from software-based attacks. Security is a key pillar of our business, and consumers' trust in the self service environment can never be compromised."