The recently reported data breach by Heartland Payment Systems may have compromised the credit card security of millions of consumers and has strong echoes of the TJX credit card breach suffered between 2004 - 2006. Commenting on what is believed to be the largest consumer data breach to date. Bradley Anstis, Director of Technology Strategy, Marshal8e6 said:

Given the nature of Heartland Payment Systems business and the value of the data it holds, this was likely to be a targeted malware attack, designed to bypass the standard commercial antivirus solutions used by the company. The really worrying aspect was the length of time that the system was compromised without the breach being detected and the fact that Heartland had ticked all the boxes of the PCI DSS compliance list.

This case illustrates how stealthy malware is these days and why security staff and CEOs cannot afford to rest on their laurels when it comes to data leak prevention. Enterprises must remain up to date on the latest threats and adopt a layered approach to security. Relying on firewalls and signature-based AV is no longer good enough. Organisations that are entrusted with valuable consumer data must also use inbound and outbound filtering of email and web content and use endpoint security and network monitoring tools that can alert them to changes in the status.

Even though Heartland was PCI DSS compliant, determined criminals were still able to steal millions of credit card details. We are seeing more and more instances of IT staff relying on their AV and not being aware that their computers have been compromised with spyware or other malware. Today s widely accepted methods of signature-based malware detection are simply not going to catch targeted spyware because the AV companies won t be familiar with its signature. Companies should also look to emerging technology like behavior-based malware analysis which would have caught this malware

If you would like to speak to Bradley Anstis about the latest cyber security threats and how enterprises can protect themselves more effectively, please contact clat Marketing at marshal8e6 eclat.co.uk or call Melanie Johnson on 01276 486000.