How Hackers Skipped Through BA’s Security

British Airways recently disclosed a data breach impacting customer information from roughly 380,000 booking transactions made between August 21 and September 5 of this year. The company said that names, addresses, email addresses, and sensitive payment card details were all compromised. Now, researchers from the threat detection firm RiskIQ have shed new light on how the attackers pulled off the heist. 

RiskIQ published details tracking the British Airways hackers' strategy, also linking the intrusion to a criminal hacking gang that has been active since 2015. 

The group, which RiskIQ calls Magecart, is known for web-based credit card skimming, finding websites that don't secure payment data entry forms, and vacuuming up everything that gets submitted. 

But while Magecart has previously been known to use the same broadly targeted code to scoop up data from various third-party processors, RiskIQ found that the attack on British Airways was much more tailored to the company's specific infrastructure.

"We’ve been tracking the Magecart actors for a long time and one of the developments in 2017 was ... they started to invest time into targets to find ways to breach specific high-profile companies, like Ticketmaster," says RiskIQ threat researcher Yonathan Klijnsma.

"The British Airways attack we see as an extension of this campaign where they’ve set up specialized infrastructure mimicking the victim site."

In its initial disclosure, British Airways said that the breach didn't impact passport numbers or other travel data. But the company later clarified that the compromised data included payment card expiration dates and Card Verification Value codes, the extra three or four-digit numbers that authenticate a card, even though British Airways has said it does not store CVVs. 
British Airways further noted that the breach only impacted customers who completed transactions during a specific timeframe, 22:58 BST on August 21 through 21:45 BST on September 5.

These details served as clues, leading analysts at RiskIQ and elsewhere to suspect that the British Airways hackers likely used a "cross-site scripting" attack, in which bad actors identify a poorly secured web page component and inject their own code into it to alter a victim site's behavior. 

The attack doesn't necessarily involve penetrating an organization's network or servers, which would explain how hackers only accessed information submitted during a very specific timeframe, and compromised data that British Airways itself doesn't store.

Klijnsma, who pinned the recent Ticketmaster breach on Magecart and saw similarities with the British Airways situation, started looking through RiskIQ's catalog of public web data; the company crawls more than two billion pages per day. 
He identified all the unique scripts on the British Airways website, which would be targeted in a cross-site scripting attack, and then tracked them through time until he found one JavaScript component that had been modified right around the time the airline said the attack began.

The script is connected to the British Airways baggage claim information page; the last time it had been modified prior to the breach was December 2012. Klijnsma quickly noticed that attackers revised the component to include code, just 22 lines of it, often used in clandestine manipulations. 

The malicious code grabbed data that customers entered into a payment form, and sent it to an attacker-controlled server when a user clicked or tapped a submission button. 

The attackers even paid to set up a Secure Socket Layer certificate for their server, a credential that confirms a server has web encryption enabled to protect data in transit. Attackers of all sorts have increasingly used these certificates to help create an air of legitimacy, even though an encrypted site is not necessarily safe.

The airline also said in its disclosure that the attack impacted its mobile users. Klijnsma found a part of the British Airways Android app built off of the same code as the compromised portion of the airline's website. 

It's normal for an app's functionality to be based in part on existing web infrastructure, but the practice can also create shared risk. In the case of the British Airways Android app, the malicious JavaScript component the attackers injected on the main site hit the mobile app as well. 

Attackers seem to have designed the script with this in mind by accommodating touchscreen inputs.
While the attack wasn't elaborate, it was effective, because it was tailored to the specific scripting and data flow weaknesses of the British Airways site. British Airways have stated,

"As this is a criminal investigation, we are unable to comment on speculation."1 RiskIQ says it gave the findings to the UK's National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre, which are investigating the breach with British Airways.

"We are working with partners to better understand this incident and how it has affected customers," an NCSC spokesperson said of the breach on Friday.

RiskIQ says it is attributing the incident to Magecart because the skimmer code injected into the British Airways website is a modified version of the group's hallmark script. 

RiskIQ also views the attack as an evolution of the techniques used in the recent Ticketmaster breach, which RiskIQ linked to Magecart, though with the added innovation of directly targeting a victim's site rather than compromising a third party. And some of the attack infrastructure, like the web server hosting and domain name, point to the group as well.

So far British Airways and law enforcement haven't publicly commented on this attribution, but Klijnsma says the other takeaway for now is the prevalence of tiny website vulnerabilities that can quickly turn into huge exposures. 

"It comes down to knowing your web-facing assets," Klijnsma says. "Don’t overexpose, only expose what you need. The consequences, as seen in this incident, can be really, really bad."

Wired

You Might Also Read: 

British Airways Data Breach:

 

« GCHQ Data Collection Violated Rights To Privacy
Cybersecurity Needs A Collective Approach »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Check Point

Directory of Suppliers

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC (formerly Reciprocity) is a leader in the GRC SaaS landscape, offering robust and intuitive products designed to make compliance straightforward and efficient.

XYPRO Technology

XYPRO Technology

XYPRO is the market leader in HPE Non-Stop Security, Risk Management and Compliance.

Practice Labs

Practice Labs

Practice Labs is an IT competency hub, where live-lab environments give access to real equipment for hands-on practice of essential cybersecurity skills.

Tines

Tines

The Tines security automation platform helps security teams automate manual tasks, making them more effective and efficient.

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

Tech Industry Forum (TIF)

Tech Industry Forum (TIF)

Tech Industry Forum is a not-for-profit, membership driven trade body. We bring together end users and some of the UK’s leading cloud, software, platform, infrastructure, and service providers.

Information Security Forum (ISF)

Information Security Forum (ISF)

The ISF is a leading authority on information security and risk management.

Gate 15

Gate 15

Gate 15 provide risk management services focusing primarily on information, intelligence and threat analysis, operational support and preparedness.

CyberSift

CyberSift

CyberSift is a cyber security provider. We develop threat detection software which needs no infrastructure changes as it integrates with almost any security tool.

Cybonet

Cybonet

Cybonet provides easy to deploy, flexible and scalable security solutions that empower organizations of all sizes to actively safeguard their networks in the face of today’s evolving threats.

SecureKey Technologies

SecureKey Technologies

SecureKey is a leading identity and authentication provider that simplifies consumer access to online services and applications.

TunnelBear

TunnelBear

TunnelBear is a Virtual Private Network services provider offering secure encrypted access to the internet.

StepStone

StepStone

StepStone is one of the leading online job platforms in Germany, and other countries, covering all industry sectors including IT and cybersecurity.

Converge Technology Solutions

Converge Technology Solutions

Converge Technology Solutions Corp. is a North American IT solution provider delivering advanced analytics, cloud, cybersecurity, and managed services solutions.

Infopercept Consulting

Infopercept Consulting

Infopercept is a leading cybersecurity company in India, providing a critical layer of security to protect business information, infrastructure & assets across the organization.

Jit

Jit

Jit empowers developers to own security for the product they are building from day zero.

Torch.AI

Torch.AI

Torch.AI’s Nexus™ platform changes the paradigm of data and digital workflows, forever solving core impediments caused by the ever-increasing volume and complexity of information.

FluidOne

FluidOne

FluidOne are an award-winning Connected Cloud Solutions provider. We design tailored solutions to help customers and partners digitally transform their IT and communications.

Solcon Capital

Solcon Capital

Solcon Capital is a forward-looking, technology-focused investment firm that is committed to identifying and investing in the most promising areas of innovation and development in the tech industry.

Simpson Associates

Simpson Associates

Simpson Associates is a Data Transformation and managed services provider that helps organisations gain valuable insights from their data and make better-informed decisions.

Maze

Maze

At Maze, we’re dedicated to changing how security teams understand and act on vulnerabilities — especially in cloud and application environments.