Guys, I know the POS devices in question here, and they aren't cash registers. They are VeriFone POS terminals. Very small, and used only for credit card transactions. Do a google image search for Zon Jr. And Tranz 330. It was the Zon family that used the "1" passwords, and the TranZ family that swapped over to using the "Z" passwords. During a typical day, the merchant uses it to authorize credit card transactions via a modem. Yes, dial-up. Then, it stuff the data into what's called "batch" memory. It's been a while, so I don't remember what is stored there, but I can tell you this. You can't just walk up to the device and read batch memory from the keypad. You'd need to write a custom program to do it. Oh, did I mention is uses it's own programming language? It does. It's VERY unlikely that a hacker would know this language, or even more to the point, would have the TIME to key it into the device from the numeric keypad without someone noticing. This is COMPLETE BS. These devices have been out since the late 80's, and have yet to be targeted. Anyone who has ever dealt with them knows about the passwords. (It's also VERY easy to change the default password!). Yet there have been no hacks.
Fearmongering at it's best. Trolling at the worst, and they need to troll harder next time.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
