[Dataloss] ID Thieves Turn Sights on Smaller E-Businesses

[Dissent]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092800333_pf.html

[...]

While public attention has remain fixed on a series of high-profile 
data losses or database breaches at federal government agencies, 
large corporations and universities, experts who study financial 
fraud say hackers increasingly are targeting small, commercial Web 
sites. In some cases, criminals are able to gain real-time access to 
the sites' transaction information, allowing them to steal valid 
credit card numbers and quickly charge large numbers of fraudulent purchases.

Small e-businesses offer fewer total victims, but they often present 
a softer target, either due to flaws in the software merchants use to 
process online orders or an over reliance on outsourced Web site security.

Cole's and Galloway's information was recorded being traded in an 
online chat room by Dan Clements, co-founder of CardCops.com, a fraud 
prevention service that monitors underground chat rooms where 
criminals trade in stolen credit cards and information used to commit 
identity theft. Clements said many smaller online merchants use 
generic shopping cart software that they fail to maintain with the 
latest software security patches.

[...]


Related blog by Brian 
Krebs: 
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2006/09/shopadmins_and_the_id_theft_cy.html