The source of the Target and Neiman Marcus security breaches originally revealed as a 17-year old from St. Petersburg Russia was incorrectly identified and instead revealed as Rinat Shabayev Fox News reported Monday.
"Three days ago, IntelCrawler researchers claimed that they had found out who is the brains behind the malware used in the Target breach," security expert Brian Krebs told FoxNews.com in an email. "A couple of hours ago, IntelCrawler changed their version of the events, publishing data that links another Russian VK profile to the affair, this time Rinat Shabayev," Krebs said in the e-mail Fox News reported.
The data breach could have affected additional retailers according to IntelCrawler, a security firm, CNN reported. The program is called BlackPOS according to IntelCrawler CNN reported.
"Well, we should be worried. One of the things the hackers do is take the malware as it's called. Once it's identified, then the security community can rally around it and put controls in place. But the problem is, the hackers know that. And they manipulate or mutate this malware, and then reuse it," SecureState CEO Ken Stasiak told CNN.
"We believe that he originated the code, or the malware everybody's calling it now," Stasiak told CNN. "And was able to put it up on the Internet for download for other hackers to then take, and potentially use it for malicious harm," Stasiak told CNN. "And that's what we believe happened to Target and Neiman Marcus," Stasiak told CNN.
Forty million credit and debit account numbers were taken from Target customers between Nov. 27, and Dec. 15, and were reportedly being used on new plastics Krebs On Security reported.
The incident spanned the country in Target stores, and not online, and could have involved thieves fiddling with the machines customers utilize to slide their cards through while purchasing merchandise Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
An update from Target's website Dec. 20 said no pin information is believed to be obtained according to CNN Money. The security code on the cards plastic sticker near the card owner's signature on the underside of the card are also considered to be safe. The same is true for card user's social dates of birth, and social security number. Pins were then found to be taken, but not accessible Bloomberg reported.
Target gave a 10 percent discount to the customers affected by the crisis ABC News reported. The retailer announced it will take full responsibility for charges that come from the incidents Target said on its website. Affected customers will also get a year's worth of credit monitoring and identity theft protection to all consumers who purchased items from Target stores during the breach Target reported..
The retailer also warned about a fake e-mail scam, reminding customers that all official e-mails from Target corporate communications are posted on the company's website The Boston Globe reported.
