Target Data Breach

Target Case study

1.) In order for these cybercriminals to succeed they had to first breach Target’s web services. At this point the cybercriminals have all sorts of unauthorized access. Next, they breach Target’s “Point of sale network” (Dube pg.2) and then proceeded to install a program by the name of “BlackPOS” (Dube pg.2). This software comes at a relatively low price considering the amount of money one could steal while putting it to use. The software is commonly sold on the black market and is therefore easily accessible to the public. The cybercriminals had installed this software on the “point of sale terminals” (Dube pg.2) and had been stealing information from Target’s consumers as they paid with their credit cards. Basically, a customer would ordinally pay for their products yet they would scan their card at a hacked terminal where their information would then be saved and encrypted by the “BlackPOS” software. This information would then be sent to Target’s web servers that have already been hacked by the cybercriminals.

Once the information has reached the web servers, all they had to do was extract it from Targets server and store the information on one of the three other servers the criminals had ready. Once they had the information they needed, they started draining bank accounts. The scariest part about the software that they had used is that it is designed to cover its tracks and show no trace of itself within a hacked network. The cybercriminals were witty enough to extract the information during peak hours of sale during the daytime. Making it extremely difficult for Target to realize that something is wrong.

2.) Although Target was one of the most well protected, many factors had allowed this attack to take place. First off, one of Target’s vendors “HVAC firm Fazio mechanical services” had an uneducated employee that had fallen for a phishing email sent by the criminals. This vendor had access to the companies electronic billing and had foolishly revealed a username and password. With the username and password the criminals were able to access the company’s payment network which was also linked to the terminals in which they needed to install the software on. Target probably should not have created such a direct pathway and needs to find a more secure company to handle their electronic payments. Another reason this attack was