December 14, 2018 By Shane Schick 2 min read

An online retailer was hit by a JavaScript attack from a group associated with Magecart, a collective of cybercriminals that specializes in skimming credit card numbers from compromised websites, according to malware researchers at BroadAnalysis.

BroadAnalysis did not reveal the name of the online retailer in question, but posted a series of screenshots that showed the network traffic, index page and four different sniffer scripts used in the attacks. These included an exfil script, a loading script and a base64 string that linked the compromised site and stolen payment credentials back to the threat actor’s site.

The JavaScript attack is typical of Magecart, which has been linked to similar attacks aimed at e-commerce platforms such as Magento and OpenCart.

Skimming at Sotheby’s and Others

The discovery of the four different credit card skimmers comes less than a month after the auction house Sotheby’s sent a statement to several IT security publications about a similar Magecart attack against its Sotheby’s Home website (formerly Viyet) discovered in early October. The firm warned that the JavaScript attack may have been running and stealing customer payment data since March 2017.

Another security research report, meanwhile, suggested that a Magecart group has evolved its use of skimming tools to not only steal customer credit card data, but also website administrator credentials. This involves adding other keywords into the skimmer code to look for admin logins and passwords as well as the payment forms on e-commerce sites. Researchers discovered the technique in the analysis of a skimming campaign against an optical retailer’s e-commerce site.

How to Protect Your Organization From a JavaScript Attack

Although Magecart attacks can happen at any time, retailers should be particularly vigilant about this sort of JavaScript attack as more consumers turn to online purchases during the busy holiday shopping season.

Defending against this kind of threat starts with applying common best practices, such as limiting access and privileges for critical systems and hardening underlying web servers. Beyond that, organizations should also deploy change monitoring and detection technologies that can alert security teams of unusual activity, such as a change in their e-commerce web pages.

Sources: BroadAnalysis, SC Magazine, RiskIQ

More from

How will the Merck settlement affect the insurance industry?

3 min read - A major shift in how cyber insurance works started with an attack on the pharmaceutical giant Merck. Or did it start somewhere else?In June 2017, the NotPetya incident hit some 40,000 Merck computers, destroying data and forcing a months-long recovery process. The attack affected thousands of multinational companies, including Mondelēz and Maersk. In total, the malware caused roughly $10 billion in damage.NotPetya malware exploited two Windows vulnerabilities: EternalBlue, a digital skeleton key leaked from the NSA, and Mimikatz, an exploit…

3 Strategies to overcome data security challenges in 2024

3 min read - There are over 17 billion internet-connected devices in the world — and experts expect that number will surge to almost 30 billion by 2030.This rapidly growing digital ecosystem makes it increasingly challenging to protect people’s privacy. Attackers only need to be right once to seize databases of personally identifiable information (PII), including payment card information, addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers.In addition to the ever-present cybersecurity threats, data security teams must consider the growing list of data compliance laws…

ICS CERT predictions for 2024: What you need to know

4 min read - As we work through the first quarter of 2024, various sectors are continuously adapting to increasingly complex cybersecurity threats. Sectors like healthcare, finance, energy and transportation are all regularly widening their digital infrastructure, resulting in larger attack surfaces and greater risk exposure.Kaspersky just released their ICS CERT Predictions for this year, outlining the key cybersecurity challenges industrial enterprises will face in the year ahead. The forecasts emphasize the persistent nature of ransomware threats, the increasing prevalence of cosmopolitical hacktivism, insights…

Topic updates

Get email updates and stay ahead of the latest threats to the security landscape, thought leadership and research.
Subscribe today