Target Credit Card Data Was Sent To a Server In Russia 137
angry tapir writes "The stolen credit card numbers of millions of Target shoppers took an international trip — to Russia. A peek inside the malicious software that infected Target's POS (point-of-sale) terminals is revealing more detail about the methods of the attackers as security researchers investigate one of the most devastating data breaches in history. Findings from two security companies show the attackers breached Target's network and stayed undetected for more than two weeks. Over two weeks, the malware collected 11GB of data from Target's POS terminals. The data was first quietly moved to another server on Target's network and then transmitted in chunks to a U.S.-based server that the attackers had hijacked. Logs from that compromised server show the data was moved again to a server based in Russia starting on Dec. 2."
A related article at Wired points out that Target suffered a similar breach in 2005, and apparently didn't learn its lesson.
POS (Score:5, Funny)
in soviet russia (Score:5, Funny)
In Soviet Russia We Target You!
Quietly moved ??? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:And the NSA Missed All Of This? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:POS (Score:4, Funny)
In Soviet Russia: Credit Cards -> Target -> YOU.
Seriously, though, this means that the perps were able to setup a relay station in Russia. I would hope that a person/organization capable of this kind of operation would have the resources/foresight to relay data through several foreign countries.
How embarrassing would it be for the Target data to have been heisted straight to young Matthew Broderick's bedroom? Even if something like that did happen, I'd expect the circulated news stories to tell tales of a massive, sophisticated, international syndicate of PhD hackers, who have now been arrested and jailed, or terminated by drone strike if they were hiding in uncooperative countries. Which story inspires more confidence in the safety of our financial systems? That is likely the story that will be told.