British Airways data breach may be the work of Magecart
News roundup: The British Airways data breach may be the handiwork of hacking group Magecart, according to researchers. Plus, hacker Guccifer will be extradited to U.S., and more.
The British Airways data breach may have been the handiwork of the threat actor group known as Magecart.
Security researchers at the threat intelligence company RiskIQ Inc., reported that they suspect Magecart was behind the late August British Airways data breach, based on their analysis of the evidence. The Magecart group focuses on online credit card skimming attacks and is believed to be behind the Ticketmaster data breach discovered in June 2018.
British Airways reported it had suffered a breach on Sept. 6 that affected around 380,000 customers. The company said personal and payment information were used in payment transactions made on the website and the mobile app between Aug. 21 and Sept. 5.
In a blog post published a week later, RiskIQ researcher Yonathan Klijnsma said that because the British Airways data breach announcement stated that the breach had affected the website and mobile app but made no mention of breaches of databases or servers, he noticed similarities between this incident and the Ticketmaster breach.
The Ticketmaster breach was caused by a web-based credit card skimming scheme that targeted e-commerce sites worldwide. The RiskIQ team said that the Ticketmaster breach was the work of the hacking group Magecart, and was likely not an isolated incident, but part of a broader campaign run by the group.
The similarities between the Ticketmaster breach and the reports of the British Airways data breach led Klijnsma and the RiskIQ team to look at Magecart's activity.
"Because these reports only cover customer data stolen directly from payment forms, we immediately suspected one group: Magecart," Klijnsma wrote. "The same type of attack happened recently when Ticketmaster UK reported a breach, after which RiskIQ found the entire trail of the incident."
Klijnsma said they were able to expand the timeline of the Ticketmaster activity and discover more websites affected by online credit card skimming.
"Our first step in linking Magecart to the attack on British Airways was simply going through our Magecart detection hits," Klijnsma explained. "Seeing instances of Magecart is so common for us that we get at least hourly alerts for websites getting compromised with their skimmer-code."
He noted that in the instance of the British Airways data breach, the research team had no notifications of Magecart's activity because the hacking group customized their skimmer. However, they examined British Airways' web and mobile apps specifically and noticed the similarities -- and the differences.
The fact they likely had access long before the attack even started is a stark reminder about the vulnerability of web-facing assets.
Yonathan Klijnsmathreat researcher, RiskIQ
"This attack is a simple but highly targeted approach compared to what we've seen in the past with the Magecart skimmer which grabbed forms indiscriminately," Klijnsma wrote. "This particular skimmer is very much attuned to how British Airway's (sic) payment page is set up, which tells us that the attackers carefully considered how to target this site instead of blindly injecting the regular Magecart skimmer."
Klijnsma also said it was likely Magecart had access to the British Airways website and mobile app before the attack reportedly started.
"While we can never know how much reach the attackers had on the British Airways servers, the fact that they were able to modify a resource for the site tells us the access was substantial, and the fact they likely had access long before the attack even started is a stark reminder about the vulnerability of web-facing assets," he wrote.
Magecart, RiskIQ noted, has been active since 2015 and has been growing progressively more threatening as it customizes its skimming schemes for particular brands and companies.
In other news
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A vulnerability in Apple's Safari web browser enables attackers to launch phishing attacks. Security researcher Rafay Baloch discovered the vulnerability and was also able to replicate it in the Microsoft Edge browser. Baloch published the proof of concept for both browser vulnerabilities early this week, and while Microsoft had addressed the issue in its August Patch Tuesday release -- citing an issue with properly parsing HTTP content as the cause -- Apple has yet to issue any patches for it. The vulnerability in Safari iOS 11.3.1 could thus still be used to spoof address bars and trick users into thinking they are visiting a legitimate site that is actually malicious.
The hacker known as "Guccifer" will be extradited to the U.S. to serve a 52-month prison sentence. A Romanian court ruled that the hacker, who is known for exposing the misuse of Hillary Clinton's private email server before the 2016 U.S. presidential election and whose real name is Marcel Lehel Lazar, will be extradited to America to serve his 52-month sentence after finishing his seven-year sentence in Romania -- his home country. Lazar pleaded guilty in May 2016 to charges of unauthorized access to a protected computer and aggravated identity theft. Lazar is believed to have hacked into the accounts of around 100 people between 2012 and 2014, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, CBS Sports' Jim Nantz and Sidney Blumenthal, a former political aide to Bill Clinton and adviser to Hillary Clinton.
