Network Solutions Hacked, 500k Credit Cards Exposed

Malware planted on web servers belonging to Network Solutions LLC, a hosting company and domain registrar, reportedly compromised more than a half a million credit card accounts belonging to customers of its e-commerce merchants.

The company said it found unauthorized code on servers that support some of its e-commerce merchants' websites. It's reported that transaction data for about 4,343 of its merchant websites was stolen and redirected to outside servers. (Source: techtarget.com)

Half a Million Cardholders Affected

Approximately 573,928 cardholders were affected by the breach that resulted in credit card data being stolen. Those transactions impacted took place between March 12 and June 8 of this year.

The breach only affected Network Solutions e-commerce customers. Domain customers, email accounts and other sites hosted by Network Solutions are safe.

TransUnion LLC will work on behalf of Network Solutions merchants to contact affected customers and law enforcement is investigating the breach.

Breach Highlights Risk of Cloud Computing

Unauthorized code appears to have transmitted information about credit card transactions while they were being completed. The vulnerability did not involve the way data is stored in Network Solutions' systems.

According to Tech Target, Imperva chief technology officer of database security Amichai Shulman said the breach highlights the fundamental security risk of cloud computing. As more companies turn to cloud-based services to host data, the databases and servers used by hosting companies become more attractive to cybercriminals. (Source: techtarget.com)

Once the cloud has been penetrated, cybercriminals have an easy path to sensitive data.

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