July 20, 2018 By Shane Schick 2 min read

Organizations that fail to vet third-party suppliers properly are vulnerable to a threat that steals credit card data over long periods of time, according to a July 2018 IBM X-Force advisory.

The threat alert outlines details about a recent breach against Ticketmaster that affected several of its third-party websites. According to the advisory, a threat group used a tactic called digital skimming to harvest credit card information, login credentials and names from online forums.

The group, dubbed Magecart, has been running the campaign since at least December 2016.

Digital Skimming Threat Exploits Third-Party Access

It’s important to note that Magecart launched its attack not through Ticketmaster itself, but via one of its digital suppliers, Inbenta, and possibly through a second vendor called SocialPlus.

This incident shows how an extended ecosystem of partners and suppliers can significantly expand the perimeter that security professionals must protect. A May 2018 study from Kaspersky Lab found that incidents affecting third-party infrastructure have led to an average loss of $1.47 million for large enterprises.

How Can Organizations Thwart Third-Party Threats?

While malicious actors have been secretly inserting physical devices to skim credit card data at point-of-sale (POS) terminals for years, digital skimming makes this threat much more difficult to contend with. This is especially true for large organizations that oversee dozens of websites, landing pages and other digital properties that prompt customers to enter their personal data.

To keep third-party threats in check, IBM experts recommend:

  • Taking inventory of third-party network connections to understand where they are coming from, where they are going to and who has access;
  • Conducting vulnerability assessments on their external-facing hosts and cloud environments to look for services that are listening for inbound connections; and
  • Using encryption to ensure that their sensitive data is useless to cybercriminals in the event that it is stolen via unsecured third-party access.

More from

Cyberattack on American Water: A warning to critical infrastructure

3 min read - American Water, the largest publicly traded United States water and wastewater utility, recently experienced a cybersecurity incident that forced the company to disconnect key systems, including its customer billing platform. As the company’s investigation continues, there are growing concerns about the vulnerabilities that persist in the water sector, which has increasingly become a target for cyberattacks. The breach is a stark reminder of the critical infrastructure risks that have long plagued the industry. While the water utility has confirmed that…

What’s behind unchecked CVE proliferation, and what to do about it

4 min read - The volume of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) has reached staggering levels, placing immense pressure on organizations' cyber defenses. According to SecurityScorecard, there were 29,000 vulnerabilities recorded in 2023, and by mid-2024, nearly 27,500 had already been identified.Meanwhile, Coalition's 2024 Cyber Threat Index forecasts that the total number of CVEs for 2024 will hit 34,888—a 25% increase compared to the previous year. This upward trend presents a significant challenge for organizations trying to manage vulnerabilities and mitigate potential exploits.What’s behind…

Quishing: A growing threat hiding in plain sight

4 min read - Our mobile devices go everywhere we go, and we can use them for almost anything. For businesses, the accessibility of mobile devices has also made it easier to create more interactive ways to introduce new products and services while improving user experiences across different industries. Quick-response (QR) codes are a good example of this in action and help mobile devices quickly navigate to web pages or install new software by simply scanning an image.However, legitimate organizations aren’t the only ones…

Topic updates

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