All I want for Christmas is cash: Welsh ATMs are unbeatable. Or unbootable. Something like that
- Reference: 1609407011
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/12/31/12boc/
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Welcome to the [7]Twelve Borks of Christmas (12BoC): a collection of Register reader stories of amusing and frustrating tech sightings over the festive period.
It's an expensive time of year, and this seventh bork of Christmas tells the tale of how hopes of purchasing festive adult beverages in a local hostelry with cold hard cash were dealt a cruel blow.
Spotted by Register reader Gavin Burnett while on a Christmas shopping excursion in South Wales, this cashpoint outside the Tesco in Ystrad Mynach is making its humble PC origins clear.
[8]
Click to enlarge
The message, "Reboot and Select proper Boot device", indicates that something has gone amiss with the internals – perhaps a failed disk or some other hardware error. Certainly, the silicon that powers many ATMs can hardly be regarded as cutting edge.
[9]As recently as 2018 , researchers found a good portion still plugging along on Windows XP, while others featured an exciting array of vulnerabilities if one was able to gain access to a physical port. [10]Other dodgy dealings involved cracking the plastic case and popping in a USB stick of malfeasance.
The most secure cashpoint is, of course, the one that has been lightly brushed with the fairy wand of bork. After all, if you can't use it, miscreants can't swipe your details.
Burnett did not reveal if he attempted to insert a plastic card in an attempt to sate the beast's desire for a boot disk. As a reader of the Register , we expect he was far too sensible. So he took a picture instead.
Although the world may seem to be mostly contactless nowadays, Ystrad Mynach, north of Cardiff, has a few alternative options for those seeking the folding stuff.
But here, hardware failure aside, this ATM has seen better days and looks a little grungy. Even assuming we could find an orifice into which to insert a disk, pressing a key with an actual finger? We don't think so... ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/30/12boc/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/29/12boc/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/28/12boc/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/27/12boc/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/26/12boc/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/25/12boc/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/Tag/12BoC
[8] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/12/15/bork7b.jpg
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2018/11/14/atm_security_lousy/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2014/01/06/atm_malware_stick_up/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Social Distancing
If your card can be used to withdraw cash, it can almost certainly be used to pay for toilet paper hoard directly.
Re: Social Distancing
This reminds me of the time I was queueing at a store (Next, London Colney) to make good on the second part of a “click and collect” service. This was during the relaxation of the first UK lockdown and the queue was a long one in terms of queuees*, made geographically-longer by the two-metre distancing. During my slow journey to the till, a touch-screen machine came into view that claimed to allow entry of click and collect codes.
I left the queue and went to the machine. The attempt to enter a code was greeted with a message along the lines of “This service is not available”. I had several codes, having sacrificed my place in line, I tried them all, but it was in vain. So I journeyed to the back of the queue and then slowly approached the till where, along with a great show of excess usage of their hand sanitiser, I complained about the machine not working and the inconvenience it had caused me.
“Oh, yeah: that service has been disabled to stop people touching the machine.”
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*They say that those who live in the Arctic circle have a hundred words for snow, so why is it that we Brits (who have a reputation for queueing) don’t have a similar number for those who queue? I had to make “queuee” up. If you know of a genuine word for this: please advise.
Maybe the chkdsk corrupting boot bug that popped up last week?
That chkdsk bug manifests itself by a BSOD and/or booting into the recovery console.
Looks like a good ol disk failure to me.
Being Wales ....
.... it's probably been infected with Schmallenberg Virus or Cache Valley Virus!
Making this comment I'm less worried about being attacked by trolls. Far more worried about shepherd attacks!
Social Distancing
Not on the same level, walking through Peterborough town centre I passed the Tesco store. This has two cash machines outside it with nothing else on the road, (the next cash machine is about 200m away) both machines were displaying a disabled due to social distancing message. Should have taken a photo....
Certainly stops you getting any cash before going into the store...