GlitchPOS: New PoS malware for sale

Warren Mercer and Paul Rascagneres authored this post with contributions from Ben Baker.

Executive summary

Point-of-sale malware is popular among attackers, as it usually leads to them obtaining credit card numbers and immediately use that information for financial gain. This type of malware is generally deployed on retailers’ websites and retail point-of-sale locations with the goal of tracking customers’ payment information. If they successfully obtain credit card details, they can use either the proceeds from the sale of that information or use the credit card data directly to obtain additional exploits and resources for other malware. Point-of-sale terminals are often forgotten about in terms of segregation and can represent a soft target for attackers. Cisco Talos recently discovered a new PoS malware that the attackers are selling on a crimeware forum. Our researchers also discovered the associated payloads with the malware, its infrastructure and control panel. We assess with high confidence that this is not the first malware developed by this actor. A few years ago, they were also pushing the DiamondFox L!NK botnet. Known as “GlitchPOS,” this malware is also being distributed on alternative websites at a higher price than the original.

The actor behind this malware created a video, which we embedded below, showing how easy it is to use it. This is a case where the average user could purchase all the tools necessary to set up their own credit card-skimming botnet.

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