Formjacking a serious threat for businesses and consumers: Symantec Report

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Faced with diminishing returns from ransomware and cryptojacking, cyber criminals are doubling down on alternative methods, such as formjacking, to make money according to Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), Volume 24.

Formjacking attacks are simple – essentially virtual ATM skimming – where cyber criminals inject malicious code into retailers’ websites to steal shoppers’ payment card details. On average, more than 4,800 unique websites are compromised with formjacking code every month. Symantec blocked more than 3.7 million formjacking attacks on endpoints in 2018, with nearly a third of all detections occurring during the busiest online shopping period of the year – November and December.

While a number of well-known retailers’ online payment websites, including Ticketmaster and British Airways, were compromised with formjacking code in recent months, Symantec’s research reveals small and medium-size retailers are, by and large, the most widely compromised.

By conservative estimates, cyber criminals may have collected tens of millions of dollars last year, stealing consumers’ financial and personal information through credit card fraud and sales on the dark web. Just 10 credit cards stolen from each compromised website could result in a yield of up to $2.2M each month, with a single credit card fetching up to $45 in the underground selling forums. With more than 380,000 credit cards stolen, the British Airways attack alone may have allowed criminals to net more than $17 million.

“Formjacking represents a serious threat for both businesses and consumers,” said Greg Clark, CEO, Symantec. “Consumers have no way to know if they are visiting an infected online retailer without using a comprehensive security solution, leaving their valuable personal and financial information vulnerable to potentially devastating identity theft. For enterprises, the skyrocketing increase in formjacking reflects the growing risk of supply chain attacks, not to mention the reputational and liability risks businesses face when compromised.”