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I know what a hole saw is. The thing is you aren't going to be cutting through hardened steel with a normal hole saw, assuming the cash box is metal. They could

I know what a hole saw is. The thing is you aren't going to be cutting through hardened steel with a normal hole saw, assuming the cash box is metal. They could probably have made the enclosure for the cash 8 inches taller and put the computer inside of that, and routed the cables for the modem, the pin pad and the screen through Making a hole in hardened steel is not easy. If you use a hole saw, it will either need to have diamond abrasive, or you will need carbide bits. If you don't use a hole saw, you are going to be using an angle grinder or a plasma torch. Getting in fast will either generate a ton of heat or a ton of noise, or both. Plus, carbide and diamond tools are super expensive. Angle grinders, not as much, but I'd notice someone with a 3 foot trail of sparks behind them before I'd notice someone running a drill at a few hundred rpm. Anyways, I do think they probably used a hole saw, which leads me to believe the computer was located behind some combination of aluminum/plastic/ordinary steel. Which is pretty ridiculous

ams6110 10y ago
It is pretty surprising that the computer board/diagnostic ports are not inside the "armored" part of the machine, if that is indeed the case.
- kogepathic 10y ago
  > It is pretty surprising that the computer board/diagnostic ports are not inside the "armored" part of the machine Well humans have to interact with the machine somehow. You can't exactly prevent physical access to the keypad, and from the nature of this attack, thieves could just hack out the pin pad to connect to the internal bus. It would be noticed much more quickly, but they'd still be away with the cash.
  - Dylan16807 10y ago
    Well that's part of the point. The wire carrying that particular bus should be entirely inside the box.
Someone 10y ago
"Plus, carbide and diamond tools are super expensive." I don't know what those tools cost, but I do know that, in the Netherlands, "open my bike lock as a service" is a thing, and they will do that, using a battery-operated grinder, in 30 seconds or so, for €15 (http://www.fietssleutelkwijt.nl/bike-lock-cutting-service.html http://www.fietssleutelkwijt.nl/bike-lock-cutting-service.ht...), including traveling to wherever your bike is. => Education welcome, but I doubt tooling will be prohibitively expensive for this task, which brings in thousands of dollars.

ams6110 10y ago

It is pretty surprising that the computer board/diagnostic ports are not inside the "armored" part of the machine, if that is indeed the case.

kogepathic 10y ago
> It is pretty surprising that the computer board/diagnostic ports are not inside the "armored" part of the machine Well humans have to interact with the machine somehow. You can't exactly prevent physical access to the keypad, and from the nature of this attack, thieves could just hack out the pin pad to connect to the internal bus. It would be noticed much more quickly, but they'd still be away with the cash.
- Dylan16807 10y ago
  Well that's part of the point. The wire carrying that particular bus should be entirely inside the box.

Someone 10y ago

"Plus, carbide and diamond tools are super expensive." I don't know what those tools cost, but I do know that, in the Netherlands, "open my bike lock as a service" is a thing, and they will do that, using a battery-operated grinder, in 30 seconds or so, for €15 (http://www.fietssleutelkwijt.nl/bike-lock-cutting-service.html http://www.fietssleutelkwijt.nl/bike-lock-cutting-service.ht...), including traveling to wherever your bike is. => Education welcome, but I doubt tooling will be prohibitively expensive for this task, which brings in thousands of dollars.