Related story: Social Security numbers may not be very secure
The scam netted the alleged identity thieves millions of dollars. But more importantly for consumers, it indicates criminals are able to sniff out customers' supposed secret PINs.
The case against three people in a New York federal court reveals how hackers are able to access the ATMs through an electronic backdoor on the machines and gain control of them.
A security analyst with the Gartner research firm says the case shows banks need much better fraud detection systems and much better authentication.