For the past 30 months, an online platform has been infected with malicious sniffers – scripts that steal data from users. Since August 2017, at least 18 different scripts have been found that copy customers’ credit cards on the platform of Reprint Mint, a store that sells copies of ESPN and “Stars and Stripes” magazines.
Sometimes, more than one sniffer script was detected active at the same time, which means that different hackers were trying to steal. Sanguine Security, an e-commerce security company, reported that the first script they discovered had been running for a year and a half without raising suspicions.
However, things changed in early 2019, when it was replaced by another script, which sent the information to a file, to the “Inter sniffing kit” which is sold on the “black market” for $950. In early August 2019, a new sniffer – script with changes in the code and domain, came to replace the previous one. By December, Sanguine had discovered 6 different scripts, specially made to steal information from credit cards. Usually there was only one active script - except for the last two mentioned above which seemed to be running simultaneously. New scripts were added on January 23, 2020, of which 5 remained active.
Reprint Mint is a small store, but a big example of how any site can be targeted. Malware can enter any site, using backdoors in the security, and it doesn't matter how much data they can grab. Such scripts are active in hundreds of thousands of stores.
So far, it has been confirmed that three hackers have infected at least 570 stores since 2017, collecting around 1000 cards every week.
