Six more US retailers hit by Target-like hacks, security firm says

January 18, 2014 – 8:20 AM

Cybercriminals have stolen payment card data from six more U.S. retailers using similar point-of-sale malware that compromised Target, a computer crime intelligence company said Friday.

The conclusion comes from a study of members-only forums where cybercriminals buy and sell data and malicious software tools, said Dan Clements[cq], president of IntelCrawler, which conducted the analysis.

The retailers have not been publicly named, but IntelCrawler is providing technical information related to the breaches to law enforcement, Clements said in a telephone interview Friday.

IntelCrawler has also identified a 17-year-old Russian who it says created the BlackPOS malware, which intercepts unencrypted payment card data after a card is swiped. Security experts believe malware based on BlackPOS was used against Target.

The teenager, who goes by the online nickname “ree4,” sold more than 40 copies of BlackPOS to cybercriminals in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, according to forum postings IntelCrawler analyzed.

Clements said IntelCrawler is “90 percent” sure of its finding, based on the forum postings and sources it communicated with.

The forum posts indicate the teenager sold the malware for US$2,000 or for a share of the profits that came from monetizing stolen payment card details, Clements said.

Source:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2014/011814-six-more-us-retailers-hit-277862.html