Following data breaches at Target, Neiman Marcus and other U.S. retailers, the FBI is warning that more such cyberattacks should be expected.
In a three-page report sent to U.S. retailers, the FBI warns that “POS malware crimes will continue to increase in the foreseeable future, despite law enforcement and security firm actions to mitigate them.”
According to Reuters , the report warns businesses about “memory-scraper” malware that is specifically designed to infect point-of-sale (POS) systems. You’ll also hear it referred to as a RAM scraper, since it accesses memory to extract data, rather than hard drives.The fact that this malware is readily available, combined with the large profit it can bring to its owner, has attracted the attention of a wide range of people.
One of the pieces of malware mentioned in the FBI alert has been dubbed “Alina.” The threat includes a feature that allows cybercriminals to upgrade it remotely, making it particularly difficult for security teams.
In the past year, the FBI identified about 20 data breaches that involved malware.
