ATM Security
An ATM is packed with cash and often sits on a street corner all night, so secure ATMs are built more like bank vaults than vending machines. Here's how they're protected, how criminals still try to get in, and how to keep yourself safe.
Every ATM is really two parts. The top half is a computer: the screen, keypad, card reader and receipt printer. It holds no money, so it's built like normal electronics.
The bottom half is a safe. Inside are locked cassettes of banknotes, and the only way out for cash is a narrow slot that the safe opens on command. Most attacks target this safe, so most of an ATM's security is focused on it.
ATM safes are tested and graded against the European standard EN 1143-1. Testers attack them with tools and measure how much effort it takes to get partial access (a hand inside) or complete access. The higher the grade, the longer it holds out.[2]
No single feature stops every attack. ATMs use layers, so that if one is beaten the next one slows the criminal down, raises the alarm or makes the cash worthless.
ATM safes have anchor holes so they can be bolted deep into a concrete floor, and the anchoring itself is load-tested as part of the safe standard. A machine that can't be lifted can't be taken away to open later.[2]
Thick steel walls and strengthened frames are designed to resist cutting, prising and brute force, as well as gas and explosive attacks.[1]
Steel bollards, planters and reinforced shop fronts stop vehicles from being driven into the building, a tactic known as a ram raid.
The safe door uses electronic or combination locks, often with a time delay (the lock waits several minutes before opening) and dual control (two people each hold part of the code). Every opening is logged.
Sensors watch for vibration, heat, tilting and the door being forced, and trigger an alarm system linked to a monitoring centre.[1]
Built-in cameras record the person using the machine, the area around it and the cash slot.[1]
Card readers are designed to detect and block skimmers, devices fitted over the slot to copy card details.[1]
The cash slot can detect a trap placed over it to catch notes, secure the money if one is found, and even detect someone drilling into the shutter.[1]
If a cash cassette is forced open or removed without authorisation, it releases a permanent dye (often bright red) that soaks the notes. The stained cash is instantly recognisable as stolen, and banks have strict rules about exchanging it, so it's almost impossible to spend.[1][3]
Every banknote has a unique serial number, and modern cash machines can read them. Recorded serial numbers let police link stolen notes back to a crime. It famously helped crack the 1972 Watergate break-in: the burglars carried brand-new, sequentially numbered $100 bills, which investigators traced through the Federal Reserve to a Miami bank and on to money from President Nixon's re-election committee.[4]
The ATM's computer and its cash dispenser talk to each other in encrypted, authenticated messages. Plugging in a fake “black box” controller or infecting the computer with malware can no longer simply order it to pay out.[1]
Like any computer, ATMs need security updates. Manufacturers also send operators alerts when new attack methods appear.[1]
A Freedom of Information request to London's Metropolitan Police revealed how ATMs in the capital were attacked between 2019 and 2022.[5]
| Method | Attacks |
|---|---|
| Black box | 39 |
| Drag out | 26 |
| Force | 25 |
| Cutting | 16 |
| Other | 9 |
| Gas | 6 |
| Ram-raid | 4 |
| Explosives | 1 |
| Total | 126 |
Attacks per year: 2019: 56 · 2020: 50 · 2021: 8 · 2022: 12. The most common method, the black box attack, targets the link between the ATM's computer and its cash dispenser. That's exactly what encrypted dispensers are designed to stop.[5]
Note: the published table lists 5 “Other” attacks in its total row, but its yearly figures add up to 9. We've used 9, which matches the overall total of 126.
Despite all this protection, criminals keep trying, sometimes with surprisingly low-tech methods.
Chester, UK · September 2026
In the early hours of Sunday 6 September, offenders broke into the Spar store on High Street, Tattenhall. They used tools to remove the ATM, then pushed it out of the shop in a small shopping trolley. The machine was later found dumped on Belle Vue Lane, Guilden Sutton, and Cheshire Police appealed for witnesses and dashcam footage.[6]
Northern Ireland · 2019
In April 2019, thieves used a stolen excavator to smash through a shop wall in Dungiven and pull out the ATM, then loaded it into a van with part of its roof cut away. It was the eighth ATM theft in the area that year. “There is one basically happening every week now,” the shop owner said. He decided not to replace the machine, leaving the community without one.[7]
Germany · 2022–2025
In 2022 Germany saw 496 ATM explosion attacks, more than one a day, mostly by organised gangs from the Netherlands. Banks spent over €300 million on machines that blow out thick fog or stain the notes with dye when tampered with, and locked ATM lobbies at night. By November 2025 there had been just 115 attacks that year, and parliament voted for longer prison sentences. The gangs have started moving to neighbouring Austria.[8]
United States · 2018
The US Secret Service warned that gangs were attacking stand-alone ATMs with Ploutus.D malware. After getting physical access to the machine, they infected it so it would spit out cash on command. Machines still running Windows XP were especially vulnerable.[9]
On screen · Breaking Bad · Season 2, Episode 6
In this 2009 episode, Jesse Pinkman tracks down a couple who robbed his associate. In their run-down house he finds they've stolen an entire ATM from a convenience store, and Spooge is trying, and failing, to break it open by hand. The episode ends with the machine being tipped over onto him, and Jesse leaving with the cash.[10]
It's fiction, but it gets one thing right: stealing an ATM is the easy part. The safe inside is built to resist hours of attack with proper tools, and on a modern machine, forcing the cassettes could leave the thieves with a pile of dye-stained notes nobody will accept.
Written by J. Roberts and Vince Gilligan, directed by Peter Medak. First aired 12 April 2009. Aaron Paul was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in the episode.[10]
The machine is well protected, but your card and PIN are only as safe as your habits.
Shield the keypad with your other hand or your purse. Hidden cameras and people looking over your shoulder are the most common way PINs are stolen.
Look and feel for anything loose, bulky or out of place on the card slot, keypad or cash slot. If it looks wrong, use a different machine.
If the machine whirrs but no cash appears, a device may be blocking the slot. Don't walk away. Call your bank from where you're standing.
If your card gets stuck, be wary of a stranger offering advice or asking you to re-enter your PIN. Contact your bank immediately.
Indoor, well-lit ATMs in banks or busy shops are safer than isolated machines, especially at night.
Put your cash and card away before you step away from the machine, and be aware of who is nearby.
