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Russia's leading computer security labs have warned of a new software virus which infects Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) to steal money from bank accounts of their users.
Two leading anti-virus software producers 'Doctor Web' and 'Kaspersky Lab' claimed to have discovered a new virus, in the networks of several bank ATMs, which is able to collect information from bank cards.
"This is a malicious programme intended to infect and survive in ATMs. It is possible that new software will appear, aimed at illegitimately using banking information and removing funds," an official of the Kaspersky Lab was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency.
He said the virus is a Trojan, which is able to infect the popular American Diebold brand of ATMs, used in Russia and Ukraine. Judging by the programming code used, there is a high probability that the programmer comes from one of the former Soviet republics, he added.
The computer security experts say the number of infected ATMs is minimal but individual bank cardholders will not be able to detect whether an ATM is infected or not. However, banks can run a security software to find out if their machines are at risk