There are few targets more appealling to a hacker or criminal than an automatic teller machine loaded with cash at the local bank. That's one reason why banks deploy so many layers of security, ranging from guards to cameras to firewalls to access-control software. Diebold Inc., one of the leading makers of self-service ATMs and voting machines, is deploying new security software to protect internal systems as well bank ATM networks.

Many banks are moving their ATM machines to Windows software from other operating systems, including IBM's discontinued OS/2, which Diebold supports, according to B. Scott Harroff, chief security architect at Diebold. He says the banking industry wants a computing platform that's more open and flexible, but also one that offers "lockdown and protection."

Diebold uses Sygate Enterprise Protection from Sygate Technologies Inc. to secure its internal systems as well as ATM networks and systems. Sygate is introducing a new version today of its software, which includes host-intrusion protection and network-access control in a single agent that can be managed from a single console.

"With any new threat we want our security product to keep it out," says Harroff, who is looking forward to two new features. While he doesn't expect attacks to break through his intrusion protection, he plans to use the Sygate software to add another layer of security for applications running in memory. All company-authorized applications will be assigned a digital signiture. Without a signature, no app will be loaded into memory.

He also wants to reduce the threat posed by small memory sticks that can be used to easily download and copy files and other data and remove them from a location. "I also look forward to a PC and laptop feature that lets my users identify approved memory sticks and the like," says Harroff, "and ensure that nobody else could connect any unapproved device."

The new Sygate software is available today, costing $65 per personal system and $115 per user for servers.