A hacker group pulled of one off the biggest data hacks in history when they successfully stole 5 million credit card information from customers. The customers compromised are found to be the ones who shopped from Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord and Taylor stores.
What’s The Extent Of The Damage?
As of now, investigating authorities have given a red flag to Saks Fifth Avenue and Lords and Taylor’s. However, it is believed that hackers might have compromised other stores too, including Home Outfitters.
Both these chains are owned by one company, The Hudson’s Bay, which confirmed the attack in an announcement.
Who Is The Hacker Group?
Gemini, a cyber security firm, confirmed that the group behind the attack calls themself Joker Stash aka Fin7. They have a history of hacking a number of websites in the past as well. These includes Trump Hotels, Omni Hotels And Resort, Chipotle, Whole Foods etc.
What Is The Intention Of The Hackers?
Their intention is to sell credit card information on dark web to earn money. For this, they’ve played a rather smart card by putting up the stolen information out for sale in small badges so that they can’t be tracked.
How Did They Hack The Credit Card Information?
They infected the systems with malware and kept on stealing information for more than a year by overwatching quietly so that they don’t raise eyebrows with their suspicious activity.
The Bottomline
Cyber security agencies are working on the matter and trying to protect the information of the victims but it may be too late already.
Source: NYtimes
