Financial institutions often rely on heavily outdated systems, especially when it comes to ATM hosts. By relying on legacy hosts, they may be unable to perform upgrades and failures can become more frequent and expensive.

In this episode of the Bank Customer Experience podcast, KAL CEO Aravinda Korala joins host Bradley Cooper to explain the strategic importance of ATM host systems, the limitations of outdated infrastructure, the move toward "zero legacy" environments and why modernization doesn't need to be a "big bang" project for banks.

He noted that many banks are frightened of replacing ATM hosts, especially if they have "thousands of ATMs, connected to this one big single point of failure."

However, by relying on legacy systems, banks will find that software support is either "questionable, or maybe even potentially hardly even available."

One of the main reasons these systems are kept around is that they can perform common transaction processing fairly quickly. "The real problem is that it can't do anything new."

One way KAL approaches host projects is to keep it one small step at a time.

"It is possible to support one ATM, then two, then five, then ten, and switch the existing ATMs from the old host to the new host one at a time. But not only can we do that migration in a carefully organized, step-by-step way. It is also true with our software. We can do the same thing as we do with new versions of our software. In other words, it's never a big bang with our KTH product," Korala said.

When asked what KTH involved, he pointed to its ability to run ATM networks and POS networks. For ATMs, its most important service is being able "to talk to multiple different services that might be within the bank."

With this technique, banks can offer customers additional services at the ATM such as a better credit card or banking product.

"The job of KTH is to connect to those services and put it all together into a real transaction."

Listen to the podcast in its entirety above.

Teller Cash Recyclers began as simpler teller cash machines, helping tellers more quickly count and store cash. They then evolved into cash recyclers, able to manage multiple cash cassettes and recycle customer deposits for withdrawals. Over time, they seen further improvements such as larger capacity and vault features.

At the same time, many banks chose to use older TCRs or even rebuy older models, which can cause costs on both the customer and employee experience side. Cook Solutions group joined ATM Marketplace on today's episode of the Bank Customer Experience podcast to discuss why these old TCRs can cost banks in the long term and how banks should address TCR strategy more broadly.

Bradley Cooper, editor of ATM Marketplace, moderated the discussion with Katilyn Bridgers-Petrie, strategic solutions manager, and Scott Fieber, chief strategy officer at Cook Solutions Group.

Fieber discussed how, for many banks, they allow TCRs to fall by the wayside, continuing to purchase legacy devices, as they view them as a commodity.

One reason for that is that many FIs do not assign a C-level individual to oversee the TCR fleet, or, as Bridgers-Petrie discussed, "they had one 10 to 20 years ago, but roles changed over time, and the TCR fell by the wayside."

Fieber mentioned several potential downsides of older machines, such as:

• Increased downtimes.
• Lost customer experience.
• More difficulty retaining staff.

Once banks identify the need for a new TCR or strategy in place, Fieber recommended that they get everyone involved, including vendors and the decision makers into a strategic workshop to brainstorm ideas on how to manage rollout, and must-have technologies that deliver a stronger ROI.

Bridgers-Petrie gave a few examples of must-have technology such as "self-auditing."

She added that self-auditing means that "tellers are no longer having to spend time after hours to balance machines, audit all of your cash, you now have your TCR to do all of that for you. And with some manufacturers, you can do that completely unattended. You can have that done within the safe and no one is having to monitor that after hours like they previously done. That alone is a game changer and a big hit on the ROI."

To hear more, listen to the rest of the podcast above.

The era of the lone criminal targeting an ATM has ended. Now, organized criminals work together to figure out vulnerabilities and target ATMs. One of their primary techniques in 2026 is man-in-the-middle attacks, which intercept communications between the host and processor to send out fraudulent transactions.

In today's episode of the Bank Customer Experience podcast, host Bradley Cooper spoke with Michael Strange, director of technology services, Cook Solutions Group, and Alyssa Luecke, fintech solutions consultant, Cook Solutions Group, about what MITM attacks are and how they have changed in 2026.

During the podcast, Strange identified that criminals are able to perform these attacks with much better efficiency and without as much risk of being on site. For example, they can install a black box device, usually a Raspberry Pi, directly into the machine and then communicate with it remotely.

Strange said that in the Pacific Northwest these attacks have become the main vector of actors. "I'd say the last 3 months, that's all we've seen. It's been almost exclusively man in the middle."

He added that criminal groups have started using Wi-Fi routers so they can control the attack remotely, as well as using server spoofing.

"They don't need the local Bluetooth connection anymore, they can have that guy off site." They can even use black boxes in bypass mode, which allows customers to do legitimate transactions in between installation of the black box and when the criminal groups device to use it.

The process of the overall attack remains the same. A group scouts out the location first, noting any cameras and the overall security of the device. They will then attempt to remove the top box to see if an alarm is triggered or any law enforcement is called. If no alarm sounds, they will replace the top box, then come back at another date to install the black box device. They can then send out cash collectors who can insert a payment card and put in a legitimate transaction. The black box will then take that legitimate transaction and approve a maximum withdrawal.

Strange said in many cases, banks only find out about this incident when they run out of cash at the ATM. Even then, Luecke said that the bank may attribute this to a busy week of cash withdrawals.

Luecke and Strange also discussed methods for how to prevent attacks, such as installing an alarm on the top hat, from which criminals can access the network cables. They can also use barriers that can block access to the top hat.

To learn more about this attack vector and ways to prevent it, listen to the podcast in full above.