Prilex is a singular threat actor that has evolved from ATM-focused malware into unique modular PoS malware—actually, the most advanced PoS threat we have seen so far, as described in a previous article. Forget about those old memory scrapers seen in PoS attacks. Prilex goes beyond these, and it has evolved very differently. This is highly advanced malware adopting a unique cryptographic scheme, doing real-time patching in target software, forcing protocol downgrades, manipulating cryptograms, doing GHOST transactions and performing credit card fraud—even on cards protected with the so-called unhackable CHIP and PIN technology. And now, Prilex has gone even further.
A frequent question asked about this threat was whether Prilex was able to capture data coming from NFC-enabled credit cards. During a recent Incident Response for a customer hit by Prilex, we were able to uncover three new Prilex versions capable of blocking contactless payment transactions, which became very popular in the pandemic times.
This blog post covers the NFC-related capabilities of recent Prilex modifications.
Tap-to-pay
Contactless payment systems are composed of credit and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC, implemented in Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay, or any bank mobile application that supports contactless) for making secure payments.
The embedded integrated circuit chip and antenna enable consumers to pay by waving their card, fob, or handheld device over a reader at a point-of-sale terminal. Contactless payments are made in close physical proximity, unlike other types of mobile payments that use broa ..
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