The US Department of Home Security is warning retailers about “Backoff,” designed to attack POS systems and undetectable by most anti-virus software.
The credit card stealing Backoff virus has got the attention of the US government which released a report on it and a number of other malicious software tools that cyber criminals are using to steal credit card information, much in the mold of the breach at Target last year.
Cyber criminals are targeting businesses that use remote desktop applications, they then use that information to gain access to their systems administration accounts and install their malware.
The Backoff POS virus was first noticed back in October 2013 and it can not only get into your data but log keystrokes and get into executable files.
There are a number of variants of Backoff, according to the government, including Goo, May, Net, and LAST. You can get more information from the government report here. It goes into some detail on the software.
The reports authors believe that by publishing this report the anti-virus (AV) companies will quickly begin detecting Backoff and the existing variants.
The report recommends that companies maintain up‐to‐date AV signatures and engines as new threats such as this are continually being added to AV solutions.
The report also has, obviously, a number of recommendations on how to secure Remote Desktop Access, your network and your POS and cash registers.
Now, let’s all go to the mall and get some retail therapy going to take our minds off of …. wait, what?!
