American Cancer Society’s Online Store Hit with Skimming Malware

Sick on the Inside

The American Cancer Society deals with illness of the human sort, but recently they had to deal with another kind of toxic plague silently taking over.  On the outside, things looked fine.  But on the inside, there was a silent plague.

Hidden as analytical code, security experts discovered malware embedded in the American Cancer Society’s storefront of their website.  It functioned by searching for “checkout” and then skimmed users’ credit card information and directed payment to the hackers.  If there is a “good news” part of this story, it is that the hacker’s web address was exposed upon discovery of the malware and the discovery was made and remedied within a few days.

This incident was also similar to the breach of Mission Health; however, their site was infected for nearly 3 years.

Security experts are alerting individual clients and businesses of the increase in e-skimming threats, warning them to keep their systems updated as well as maintaining constant monitoring of any changes.

As with all cybersecurity practices, remain diligent with your own security and use as many verification points as possible in all of your online practices.