More information is coming out about the account information theft from Target stores over the Holidays. First, they have admitted 70 million accounts may have been stolen, but also state it may be as many as 110 million. Regardless it is the largest such hack in United States history.
Krebs on Security is still the best place for up to the minute information on this story but it can be a bit cryptic for those outside the industry.
ARS Technica has a piece that should work. This is a great read:
http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/01/point-of-sale-malware-infecting-target-found-hiding-in-plain-sight/
I'm going to quote a bit from that article...
Independent security journalist Brian Krebs has uncovered important new details about the hack that compromised as many as 110 million Target customers, including the malware that appears to have infected point-of-sale systems and the way attackers first broke in.
This next bit is incredible:
Krebs went on to report that sources told him the attackers broke into Target after hacking a company Web server. From there, the attackers somehow managed to upload the POS malware to the checkout machines located at various stores. The sources said the attackers appeared to then establish a control server inside Target's internal network that "served as a central repository for data hoovered by all of the infected point-of-sale devices." The attackers appear to have had persistent access to the internal server, an ability that allowed them to periodically log in and collect the pilfered data.
Be sure to read through that entire article. Well worth your time.
Happy reading,
J.W. Gant
**UPDATE**
Krebs on Security has a part 2 for this:
a-closer-look-at-the-target-malware-part-ii/
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