Follow-up on the cancelled HiTB presentation "3rd Generation ATM frauds"

By Tim Quax on 19 july 2010

Raoul Chiesa, hacker and CTO of Mediaservice.net, cancelled his speaking arrangement at Hack in The Box supposedly due to legal threats and pressure by ATM vendors.

Raoul Chiesa is a Senior Advisor on Strategic Alliances & Cybercrime Issues at the Global Crimes Unit for the United Nations Interregional Crime & Justice Research Institute, a Member of the Permanent Stakeholders Group at the European Network & Information Security Agency, and is also the founder of Mediaservice.net, a security advisory company.

I have just received official word from Raoul Chiesa / @ Mediaservice.net confirming this to be nothing but a rumour. I quote:

"No manufacturer or system integrator of ATM nor financial and banking institutions have ever threatened Mr. Chiesa or the company @ Mediaservice.net"

According to @ Mediaservice.net, Mr. Chiesa has cancelled his presentation at HITB EU for two reasons, as I quote yet again:

- Ethical issues, for which the team's search @ Mediaservice.net decided a year and a half ago not now make public disclosure of vulnerabilities which have emerged, but just to closed sector specific associations;

- Logistical issues, which saw him busy on the evening of July 2 near Rome.

So apparently there were no legal threats against Mr. Chiesa, and the article we featured on the subject stands corrected.