ATMs, or automated teller machines, today face the Internet-born threat of worms and denial-of-service attacks, as well as being at risk from malicious applications that can harvest customer data or hijack machines. In fact, most of the ATMs are at risk from these attacks as they rely on desktop PC technology--usually Intel hardware and Windows operating systems--linked to other machines, some connected to the Internet, in the bank's network, according to experts. Security vendor Network Box illustrated this threat by showing that only the personal identification number was encrypted when information was sent from a U.S. ATM to networked bank computers. The card numbers, card expiration dates, transaction amounts, and account balances were clearly readable in plain text to anybody intercepting the data as it traveled through the network. An early warning of this insecurity in modern ATMs came in 2003 when the Nachi Internet worm infiltrated "secure" networks and infect...

Chief executives have been disappointed that IT hasn't done more to improve corporate performance. Some chief information officers are stepping up to that challenge, going beyond their traditional IT-management role and working closely with business-unit leaders to make the most of technology investments. To step up to the new responsibilities of an IT leader, CIOs must delegate or shed some operational duties and spend more time helping business leaders identify and use technologies that will help companies innovate.