Memory-scraping malware

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Memory-scraping malware or RAM Scrapping malware is a malware that scans the memory of digital devices, notably point-of-sale (POS) systems, to collect sensitive personal information, such as credit card numbers and personal identification numbers (PIN) for the purpose of exploitation. [1]

Contents

Operation

The magnetic stripe of payment cards hold three different data tracks Track 1, Track 2 and Track 3. [2] The POS RAM scrapers were created to implement the use of expression matches to gain access and collect the Track 1 and Track 2 card data from the RAM process memory. Some RAM scrapers use the Luhn algorithm to check the validity of card data before exfiltration. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

Point of sale Time and place where a retail transaction is completed

The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place where a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice for the customer, and indicates the options for the customer to make payment. It is also the point at which a customer makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods or after provision of a service. After receiving payment, the merchant may issue a receipt for the transaction, which is usually printed but can also be dispensed with or sent electronically.

Scrape, scraper or scraping may refer to:

Web scraping, web harvesting, or web data extraction is data scraping used for extracting data from websites. The web scraping software may directly access the World Wide Web using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol or a web browser. While web scraping can be done manually by a software user, the term typically refers to automated processes implemented using a bot or web crawler. It is a form of copying in which specific data is gathered and copied from the web, typically into a central local database or spreadsheet, for later retrieval or analysis.

Torpig, also known as Anserin or Sinowal is a type of botnet spread through systems compromised by the Mebroot rootkit by a variety of trojan horses for the purpose of collecting sensitive personal and corporate data such as bank account and credit card information. It targets computers that use Microsoft Windows, recruiting a network of zombies for the botnet. Torpig circumvents antivirus software through the use of rootkit technology and scans the infected system for credentials, accounts and passwords as well as potentially allowing attackers full access to the computer. It is also purportedly capable of modifying data on the computer, and can perform man-in-the-browser attacks.

Payment terminal

A payment terminal, also known as a point of sale (POS) terminal, credit card terminal, EFTPOS terminal, is a device which interfaces with payment cards to make electronic funds transfers. The terminal typically consists of a secure keypad for entering PIN, a screen, a means of capturing information from payments cards and a network connection to access the payment network for authorization.

4690 Operating System is a specially designed point of sale (POS) operating system, originally sold by IBM. In 2012, IBM sold its retail business, including this product, to Toshiba, which now supports it. 4690 is widely used by IBM and Toshiba retail customers to drive retail systems running their own applications, and IBM's Application Client Server Environment (ACE), Supermarket Application (SA), General Sales Application (GSA), and Chain Drug Sales Application (CDSA).

Revel Systems

Revel Systems is an iPad-based point of sale system co-founded by Lisa Falzone and Christopher Ciabarra. It is now majority owned by private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.

Dexter is a computer virus or point of sale malware which infects computers running Microsoft Windows and was discovered by IT security firm Seculert, in December 2012. It infects PoS systems worldwide and steals sensitive information such as Credit Card and Debit Card information.

PoSeidon is a name for a family of malicious computer programs targeting computerized Point-of-Sale systems.

Backoff is a kind of malware that targets point of sale (POS) systems. It is used to steal credit card data from point of sale machines at retail stores. Cybercriminals use Backoff to gather data from credit cards. It is installed via remote desktop type applications where POS systems are configured. It belongs to the POS malware family as it is known to scrape the memory of POS devices.

Point-of-sale malware

Point-of-sale malware is usually a type of malicious software (malware) that is used by cybercriminals to target point of sale (POS) and payment terminals with the intent to obtain credit card and debit card information, a card's track 1 or track 2 data and even the CVV code, by various man-in-the-middle attacks, that is the interception of the processing at the retail checkout point of sale system. The simplest, or most evasive, approach is RAM-scraping, accessing the system's memory and exporting the copied information via a remote access trojan (RAT) as this minimizes any software or hardware tampering, potentially leaving no footprints. POS attacks may also include the use of various bits of hardware: dongles, trojan card readers, (wireless) data transmitters and receivers. Being at the gateway of transactions, POS malware enables hackers to process and steal thousands, even millions, of transaction payment data, depending upon the target, the number of devices affected, and how long the attack goes undetected. This is done before or outside of the card information being (usually) encrypted and sent to the payment processor for authorization.

BlackPOS or Interprocess communication hook malware is a type of point-of-sale malware or spyware program which was specifically designed to be installed in a point of sale (POS) system to scrape data from debit and credit cards. This is very different from the normal memory-scraping malware that scrapes all the data and needs filters to extract the target data. This specifically hooks into the track information, thus it is called an interprocess communication hook. Once this malware gets installed it looks for the pos.exe file in the system and parses the content of the track 1 and track 2 financial card data. The encoded data is then moved to a second machine through SMB. BlackPOS was used in the Target Corporation data breach of 2013.

Alina is a Point of Sale Malware or POS RAM Scraper that is used by cybercriminals to scrape credit card and debit card information from the point of sale system. It first started to scrape information in late 2012. It resembles JackPOS Malware.

FastPOS is a variant of POS malware discovered by Trend Micro researchers. The new POS malware foregrounds on how speed the credit card data is stolen and sent back to the hackers.

PunkeyPOS is a new type of Point of Sale Malware which was recently discovered by PandaLabs. This new Point of Sale Malware infects the Point of Sale(POS) Systems with two types of malware applications - keylogger and RAM Scraper. PunkeyPOS gets installed into the computer automatically without the knowledge of the user, in a similar manner as other POS malware.

A new sophisticated point-of-sale or memory-scraping malware called "Multigrain" was discovered on April 17, 2016 by the FireEye Inc. security company. Multigrain malware comes under the family of NewposThings Malware. This malware is similar to the NewposThings, FrameworkPOS and BernhardPOS malware which were known previously as notorious malware.

CenterPOS is a point of sale (POS) malware discovered Cyber Security Experts. It was discovered in September 2015 along with other kinds of POS malware, such as NewPOSThings, BlackPOS, and Alina. There are two versions which have been released by the developer responsible: version 1.7 and version 2.0. CenterPOS 2.0 has similar functionality to CenterPOS version 1.7. The 2.0 variant of CenterPOS malware added some more effective features, such as the addition of a configuration file for storing information in its command and control server.

Malumpos is a point of sale malware that are designed to steal or scrape customer’s credit and debit card detail from point of sale system. These are designed in a way that it records point of sale’s data which is running in an Oracle MICROS payment system of the restaurant. The collected data has been used in 333,000 customer sites around the world. Malumpos Malware targets hotels and other US businesses and put the retail customers at risk. This POS RAM Scraper is written in the Delphi programming language. Malumpos monitors, processes, scrapes the stolen data of the infected POS system and the RAM. First it stores the stolen credit or debit card details of the customer from the infected point of sale system once it is swiped. Then it sends the data to the cybercriminal to empty the customer bank balance or the details are sold to the black market.

Kasidet POS Malware is a variant of Point of Sale (POS) Malware that performs DDoS attacks using Namecoin's Dot-Bit service to scrape payment card details. It is also known as Trojan.MWZLesson or Neutrino and was found in September 2015 by cyber security experts. It is a combination of BackDoor.Neutrino.50 and the POS malware.

Data breach incidences in India were the second highest globally in 2018, according to a report by digital security firm Gemalto. With over 690 million internet subscribers and growing, India has increasingly seen a rise in data breaches both in the private and public sector. This is a list of some of the biggest data breaches in the country.

References

  1. "Memory Scraping Malware" . Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  2. "POS RAM Scraper Malware" . Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  3. "Exfiltration of Data with POS RAM Scraper Malware" (PDF). Retrieved November 29, 2017.