South Korean Breach Exposes Over 1 Million Payment Cards

guest · Aug 1, 2019

South Korean Breach Exposes Over 1 Million Payment Cards
August 1, 2019
https://geminiadvisory.io/south-korean-breach-exposes-over-1-million-payment-cards/

While the US remains the most targeted country, since 2015, when the US began adopting EMV technology, cybercriminals have scoured the world for new vulnerable targets.

Gemini Advisory observed 42,000 compromised South Korean-issued CP records posted for sale in the dark web in May 2019, which is generally in line with monthly additions from the past two years. However, June 2019 had 230,000 records, a 448% spike. July was even more drastic with 890,000 records, a 2,019% increase from May’s benchmark amount.

This spike currently consists of over 1 million compromised South Korea-issued CP records posted for sale in the dark web since May 29, 2019.
In-Depth Analysis
Among the additions of compromised South Korean CP records, Gemini identified that 3.7% were US-issued cards.
One of the most affected US financial institutions was a credit union that primarily serves the US Air Force; the Air Force maintains multiple air bases in South Korea.
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Through an in-depth analysis of the compromised cards, analysts determined that many of them belong to US cardholders visiting South Korea. Since South Korea has received just over 1 million US travelers in the past 12 months, this should account for the high level of US payment records.
Conclusion
There are two likely scenarios that can explain this.
The first is that the records were obtained from the breach of a parent company that operates several different businesses in a variety of locations.

It is also possible that a POS integrator was breached. This would mean that a threat actor gained access to a single integrator service that interfaces with many merchants to enable them to use their individual POS devices.
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ZDNet: Breach alert in South Korea after 1m card details were put up for sale online

guest · Aug 22, 2019

Info of US troops in South Korea may have been stolen in massive hack of 1M credit cards
August 21, 2019
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...een-stolen-in-massive-hack-of-1m-credit-cards

Information from one million credit cards, including at least 38,000 U.S.-issued cards, was stolen and posted for sale on the dark web in late May, Eighth Army-Korea warned in a Facebook post this week.

"Among the potentially compromised organizations was an unnamed credit union which provided services at U.S. Air Force bases in South Korea," the post read.
Approximately 23,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea. The Eighth Army, based at Camp Humphreys just south of the capital of Seoul, commands all U.S. Army forces in the country.

The military has made significant efforts to not only improve its own cyber capabilities but to teach service members how to secure their own data. "Cyber hygiene" courses that tell troops how to protect their personal information have been part of Marine Corps basic training for years.
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South Korean Breach Exposes Over 1 Million Payment Cards

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