Newly discovered web skimming malware is capable of hiding in plain sight to inject payment card skimmer scripts into compromised online stores.
The malware's creators use malicious payloads concealed as social media buttons that mimic high profile platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Credit card skimmers are JavaScript-based scripts injected by Magecart cybercrime groups in the checkout pages of compromised e-commerce sites.
Once loaded on the targeted stores, the scripts automatically harvest payment and personal information submitted by customers and exfiltrate it to servers under the Magecart actors' control.
Novel security scanner evasion tactic
This new malware was discovered by researchers at Dutch cyber-security company Sansec that focuses on defending e-commerce websites from digital skimming (also known as Magecart) attacks.
The payment skimmer malware pulls its sleight of hand trick with the help of a double payload structure where the source code of the skimmer script that steals customers' credit cards will be concealed in a social sharing icon loaded as an HTML 'svg' element with a 'path' element as a container.
The syntax for hiding the skimmer's source code as a social media button perfectly mimics an 'svg' element named using social media platform names (e.g., facebook_full, twitter_full, instagram_full, youtube_full, pinterest_full, and google_full).
Malicious payload (Sansec)
A separate decoder deployed separately somewhere on the e-commerce site's server is used to extract and execute the code of the hidden credit card stealer.
This tactic increases the chances of avoiding detection even if one of the two malware components is found since the malware loader is not necessarily stored within the same ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
