Hackers have attacked the websites raising charities for Australia’s bushfire victims. Affected websites have been taken down and other alternatives are being considered to raise funds for the needy.
No sympathies for Bushfire Victims
In a bid to do its part in trying to help reduce the suffering of the bushfire victims Microsoft News US helped Microsoft News Australia run a donation campaign for Australian Red Cross, St Vincent De Paul Society and The Salvation Army.
According to cyber security experts one of the donations sites got infected by malicious scripts that stole the credit card information people entered into the site. This type of cyber-attack is categorized as Magecart.
It is surprising that hackers are not leaving even the websites which have been raising funds for the bushfire victims. By doing this, they have simply shattered the people’s trust on an effective way of raising charity for some cause.
E-commerce Websites Are Normally Targeted
Cybercriminals somehow managed to inject a JavaScript base code into the targeted ecommerce website. The code when activated starts sending credit card information to another domain that is controlled by the hacker.
The Magecart code was first detected by Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence Team of Microsoft who later advised the owner of the website to shutdown website to prevent the further theft of credit card information. Despite this the threat still remain as the hackers can modify the code and inject it into another website.
According to investigation by independent security firms 39 other websites have also been affected by the same kind of malware script. Security firms along with the AU authorities have stepped up their game to provide the required level of security needed.
We Need Stronger Cyber Security Regulations
As technologies have opened doors to new horizon the need for stricter cyber security regulations is felt. In 2019 alone companies like Facebook, Whatsapp, Apple, Samsung and some of the most notable banks became victims of cyber attacks that affected their repute greatly and also put customers data at stake. The most popular among these was the British Airways website hack that jeopardised the credit card info of millions of customers.
Now at a time which may be described as the dawn light hours of 2020 charities that are helping Australia’s bushfire victims have emerged as the first major victims of cyber attack’s cementing the need for a stronger cyber security regulations.
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