Arbor Networks

Report: Deep Links Connect Home Depot, Target Hacks

Security reporter Brian Krebs has an intriguing post from Sunday that suggests a link between the massive breach at Target Stores in late 2013 and the recently alleged compromise of systems at home improvement giant Home Depot. Home Depot has yet to acknowledge any theft of customer data from its computer systems. However, according to Krebs, an unnamed “source close to the Home Depot investigation” told him that an analysis of compromised computers at Home Depot revealed that some of the store’s registers were infected with a new variant of BlackPOS, a malicious software program designed to run on Windows-based point of sale (or POS) systems and steal card data when cards are swiped. BlackPOS was found on point-of-sale systems at Target last year.  In March, the security firm Arbor Networks issued a report that cited BlackPOS as one of a number of point of sale system malware families that cyber criminal groups were using heavily: generating new […]

Arbor Networks PoS Report

Unknown Knowns: Arbor Warns Of Widespread Point of Sale Compromises

The hack of U.S. retailer Target put attacks on point of sale systems on the radar, and prompted major retailers to revisit the security of the systems that accept credit card transactions. Now research from Arbor Networks is warning that hackers and cyber criminals are doubling down on point of sale (PoS) systems with a wide range of specialized PoS malware and targeted attacks. Arbor says it has data suggesting that PoS compromises may be widespread, and undetected. Arbor’s Security Engineering & Response Team (SERT)  issued its findings in a Threat Intelligence Brief (2014-6)  report. The company said that “ambitious threat actors” are using targeted attack campaigns against PoS networks. The “longevity and extent” of PoS attack campaigns – even at wealthy and sophisticated organizations – is “a serious concern.”   [Read Security Ledger’s coverage of the Target data breach here.] “In organizations with security teams and well-managed network infrastructure, point of […]

History Suggests Heartbleed Will Continue To Beat

The SANS Internet Storm Center dialed down the panic on Monday, resetting the Infocon to “Green” and citing the increased awareness of the critical OpenSSL vulnerability known as Heartbleed as the reason.   Still, the drumbeat of news about a serious vulnerability in the OpenSSL encryption software continued this week. Among the large-font headlines: tens of  millions of Android mobile devices running version 4.1 of that mobile operating system (or “Jelly Bean”) use a vulnerable version of the OpenSSL software. Also: more infrastructure and web application players announced patches to address the Heartbleed vulnerability. They include virtualization software vendor VMWare, as well as cloud-based file sharing service Box. If history is any guide: at some point in the next week or two, the drumbeat will soften and, eventually, go silent or nearly so. But that hardly means the Heartbleed problem has gone away. In fact, if Heartbleed follows the same […]