Updated 10/27/2019 – On October 22, 2019, the FBI issued a warning about cybercriminals running e-skimming attacks, also known as Magecart attacks. These attacks have been happening since 2016, but have intensified during 2018 and 2019. These attacks started out by exploiting vulnerabilities in open-source e-shopping platforms. However, over the past two years, attackers evolved their attack methodology, and any online store is now susceptible to attacks, regardless if it runs on top of an open-source platform or a cloud-hosted service.
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Cybercriminals cost the global economy $2.9 million every minute of 2018. This shocking statistic comes from RiskIQ‘s latest Evil Minute report. RiskIQ specializes in online attack surface management, providing threat discovery, intelligence, and mitigation. The San Francisco, CA-based firm figured that a total of $1.5 trillion was lost to cyber-criminals in 2018. Some of the more ominous info-bits they presented include:
$25 per minute, the cost to top companies due to security breaches.- $17,700: lost from phishing attacks per minute
- $22,184: the projected by-the-minute cost of global ransomware events in 2019
Other statistics include:
- 8,100: identifier records compromised every minute
- 2.4: phish traversing the internet per minute
- 0.32: blacklisted apps by-the-minute
- 0.21: Magecart attacks detected every minute
Lou Manousos, CEO of RiskIQ said in the presser, “As the scale of the internet continues to proliferate, so does the threat landscape.”
Magecart hacks
The report specifically calls out attacks that target e-commerce. They focus on the Magecart hacks. Magecart hacks have increased by 20% in the last year. By some estimates, the Magecart supply chain attacks have resulted in the theft of more credit card information than more infamous breaches at Home Depot and Target. According to reports, Magecart was behind the 2018 cyber-attacks on British Airways and Ticketmaster which together compromised the info of over 425,000 of the firm’s customers.
Magecart attack is a credit card skimmer that intercepts card numbers and information when a payment card is swiped at the point of sale. Unlike gas card or ATM skimmers, there is almost no way for a consumer to determine that Magecart skimming is about to take place. There is no physical manifestation of Magecart and it is not always easy to catch, because it takes advantage of universal code and other applications not typically related to payments.
Magecart is a consortium of at least six different hacking groups that target flaws in online shopping cart systems. The attackers like Magento to steal customer payment card information. Magento, an open-source e-commerce platform written in open-source PHP. At least initially attackers exploited a PHP Object Injection flaw (CVE-2016-4010) in the popular online shopping cart.
In order to run this compromise, the Magecart attacker substitutes a piece of Javascript code, either by altering the Magento source code or by redirecting the shopping cart using an injection to a website that hosts the malware to steal the credit card and user information.
RiskIQ CEO Manousos warns;
Without greater awareness and an increased effort to implement necessary security controls, there will be more attacks using an ever-expanding range of technologies and strategies.
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Firms that fall victim to attacks don’t just lose card info. They also lose time and productivity. Restoring hacked data and systems takes time and resources. The damage to a company’s reputation can cost it new and existing customers. Then there are the legal penalties from PCI, HIPAA, and the courts that come with mishandling customer information.
Like I keep saying – time to go back to the cash economy.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
