Crooks who steal credit and debit card numbers have found a devious new way to snag this information. They’re using a small and relatively cheap piece of off-the-shelf technology to compromise computerized store cash registers. THis has been discovered because a band of brazen thieves was caught on security cameras installing these high-tech skimmers on cash registers at the Nordstrom store in Aventura, Florida.
The skimmers are built into standard PS2 cable connectors that plug into the back of a computer where customers can’t see them. They’re only about an inch long — and look so innocuous that even if employees saw them they might not suspect anything.
“It’s a little piece of plastic, usually purple, that fits into the port where your keyboard connects to your computer,” explained security analyst Brian Krebs, who first reported this story on his KrebsOnSecurity blog.
“It intercepts any data that is sent on that communication channel, whether it’s keystrokes or somebody swiping a card through a terminal.”
PS2 Keystroke loggers have been available for years. They sell for as little as $40 and are marketed as “professional surveillance products.” Krebs said this is the first time he’s ever heard of them being used to skim card information from a retailer.
Nordstrom confirmed that it had found and removed “unauthorized devices on a small number of cash registers” at their Aventura store. […]Source www.today.com