North Korean State-Sponsored Hackers Inserted Malicious Code to Online Stores that Steals Buyers Payment Card Data

A new report indicates that the web skimming attacks on popular US and European online stores linked with North Korean state-sponsored hackers.

Sansec research shows that APT Lazarus/HIDDEN COBRA hacking group break into the websites of large US retailers and planting payment skimmers as early as May 2019.

The new research shows that the hacking group has now extended the attack base targeting online stores by inserting a skimming script that steals customer payment card data.

“Sansec researchers have attributed the activity to HIDDEN COBRA because infrastructure from previous operations was reused.”

HIDDEN COBRA Magecart Attack

The Magecart is an attack method that allows malicious hackers to steal customer payment card information. HIDDEN COBRA managed to gain access to large retailer shops.

By gaining unauthorized access they inject malicious scripts with checkout pages of the store and the skimmer captures customers’ data such as credit card numbers and sent to HIDDEN COBRA-controlled servers.

Sansec monitors observed that millions of online stores infected at an average of 30 to 100 stores infected per day.

“Sansec research has identified multiple, independent links between recent skimming activity and previously documented North Korean hacking operations.”

The following diagram details the modus operandi

Researchers observed multiple campaigns that attack popular stores, aiming to steal the customer payment information, here you can find the detailed report.

Sansec believes that North Korean state-sponsored actors have engaged in large scale digital skimming activity since at least May 2019.

Here you can find a detailed about the Magecart Attack – Incident Investigation and The Key Takeaways.

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