IntelCrawler: Russian teenager authored malware used in Target and Neiman Marcus attacks

IntelCrawler: Russian teenager authored malware used in Target and Neiman Marcus attacksSubmitted by Neelesh Raghuwanshi on Mon, 01/20/2014 - 11:48 

In a report posted online late Friday, Sherman Oaks, California-based security firm IntelCrawler claimed that it has identified the 17-year-old Russian teenager who apparently authored the malware which was probably used in the cyberattacks against retailers Target and Neiman Marcus.  The security firm also said that a few more retailers will also likely acknowledge the breach of their systems in the near future.
According to the IntelCrawler report, the malware programs authored by the Russian teenager, and used for attacking the retail companies, are dubbed `BlackPOS.' The teenager has seemingly sold over 60 editions of the `BlackPOS' software - for approximately $2,000 - to a number of cybercriminals in different regions, including Eastern Europe.

The security company also said that while the attacks launched against Target and Neiman Marcus were not carried out by the Russian teenager, the malicious programs written by him had been used to infect the sales systems at the two retailers.
About the execution of the malware attacks, IntelCrawler CEO Andrew Komarov sid that the attackers who purchased the BlackPOS software from the teenager entered the sales systems of the retailers by trying out several easy passwords, for gaining remote access to the registers.
Noting that retailers apparently "still use quite easy passwords on most remote-access" servers, Komarov said that most of the companies do not appear to impose many restrictions on people who have access to the remote point-of-sale servers.