Over 10,000 websites and applications are vulnerable to Magecart, a digital supply chain attack used to steal login credentials, private information and credit card data without a trace

Data skimming technique has become an unstoppable threat

KIRKLAND, Wash. and TEL AVIV, Israel, November 10, 2021 – Cyberpion, a cybersecurity pioneer in external attack surface management (EASM), today presented research at Black Hat Europe 2021 revealing that some of the world’s largest companies across retail, banking, healthcare, energy and many other sectors, including Fortune 500, Global 500 and governments are failing to prevent Magecart attacks. 

The research analyzed more than 30,000 Magecart vulnerabilities over the last two years and found significant weaknesses in modern security platforms and processes to identify and mitigate Magecart exploits. More than 10,000 Magecart vulnerabilities are still active. There were also severe lapses in enterprises disclosing security vulnerabilities or exploits occurring along their digital supply chains to their customers, ultimately placing all connected organizations at severe risk of a critical breach. 

Magecart is the common name for a style of cyberattack in which hackers compromise third-party code (typically Javascript that runs in browsers) to steal, or scrape, information such as credit card data from web applications (e.g. online checkout software) or websites that incorporate the code. Web skimming continues to be a real threat to online merchants and shoppers with attacks severely impacting organizations including British Airways and Ticketmaster in 2018, Forbes magazine in 2019, plus local US government portals and messaging service Telegram 2020. 

Companies can discover if they have been the target of a Magecart attack or affected by Magecart vulnerability by visiting this website.

“Our conclusion from the analysis is that as of today, organizations fail to face Magecart threats and detect the vulnerabilities and exploits that hackers leverage to conduct these attacks,” said Cyberpion CEO Nethanel Gelernter. Victims are often the last to know as it’s only later that organizations find that their data was sold or exploited, with the problem extending beyond any single vendor or client relationship. For enterprises in particular, Magecart attacks pose a significant challenge because it is problematic to set up a solution at scale.” 

Highlights from the research include: 

• At least one of the top five enterprises in many verticals—retail, insurance, financial services, pharma, media, security and others—were found to be vulnerable or abused. 
• More than 1,000 online shops are vulnerable, exposing their customers to skimming. Some of the most popular international newspapers were found to be vulnerable, often via their home page 
• Lesson not learnt: The exact vulnerability that led to Magecart’s data breach on British Airways could easily be replicated on the sites of other global aviation companies, despite being a simple fix.  
• Some vulnerable or abused companies do use anti-Magecart solutions, but these could be bypassed.
• Vendor infrastructure exposes many other connected organizations to Magecart, yet vendors often fail to inform them about it early enough in order for them to take preventative action. In one case, a leading online advertising network affected 15 global insurance brands alongside hundreds of other enterprises. 

About Cyberpion

Cyberpion solves the rising cybersecurity challenge of understanding the risks and vulnerabilities of your connected online assets that form an external attack surface. Knowing how your organization is vulnerable, where those threats come from, and what infrastructures are at risk, is critical to preventing an attack before it happens. Cyberpion helps organizations mitigate these advanced threats by continuously monitoring, discovering, and assessing the threat vectors present throughout online ecosystems that exist outside the traditional security perimeter. With a research and development team based in Israel, the company is funded by leading cybersecurity venture capitalists. To learn more, visit cyberpion.com.

For more information, please contact:

Josh Turner

Si14 Global Communications

[email protected]

+1-917-231-0550