Bitcoin ATMs have become one of the most popular devices located in major cities around the world.

With the growth of bitcoin, so did the installation of automated teller machines where people can buy bitcoin on the go.

There are currently at least 26,000 Bitcoin ATMs installed around the world.

The vast majority of ATMs (more than 80%) are located in the United States, and this is due to the high rate of technology adoption there.

As Bitcoin ATMs become more acceptable to buy, Kraken Security Labs has taken it upon itself to investigate the safety of these devices.

Her investigation led to the discovery of some worrying vulnerabilities in some crypto ATMs currently scattered around the world.

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More specifically, General Bytes Bitcoin ATMs have a vulnerability that anyone with access to the admin code can exploit.

Different ATMs with one code?

Kraken Security Labs discovered that the General Bytes ATM (GBBATM2), which is one of the most widely used encrypted ATMs, contained a number of vulnerabilities, including the possibility of an attack on its QR code.

This code is given to ATM owners upon purchase to set up their machine.

The default administrative QR code is then scanned on the machine and a password is required to be set on each ATM via the backend system.

By examining several used ATMs purchased by Kraken Security Labs, they discovered that no password was set up for any of these ATMs, and therefore the default administrative code sent with the ATMs is still used.

This code can be changed so that will not be a problem.

But the scan found that all Bitcoin ATMs were assigned the same QR code from the “General Bytes.”

This will enable anyone with access to the administrative QR key to hack any ATM where the default code has not been changed to a different password.

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Kraken said it notified the General Bytes team of this vulnerability in April when they first discovered it and multiple patches for the backend system (CAS) were released.

But these complete overhauls are yet to be implemented as they require hardware revisions.

Protection Instructions:

In light of full fixes yet to be released to address these vulnerabilities, Kraken Security Labs has warned the public to be very careful when it comes to executing transactions on Bitcoin ATMs.

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Users are advised to ensure that the devices they are using are trusted devices.

In addition, users should be fully aware of their surroundings and look for ATMs with surveillance cameras.

Additionally, investors are advised to avoid using these ATMs when there are other ways to sell or buy cryptocurrencies due to these weaknesses.

The findings of the company “Kraken Security Labs” also showed that these devices can be exploited, whether at the hardware or software level.

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