Researchers from US-based security vendor Trustwave discovered the new strain, calling it ‘Punkey’. The investigation found compromised payment card information and more than 75 infected, and active, internet protocol addresses for Windows POS terminals.
The malware hides inside of the Explorer process, which exists on every Windows device and manages the opening of individual program windows. Punkey scans other processes on the terminal to find cardholder data, which it sends to the control server.
Merchants should update antivirus and firewall protections, monitor the remote access software, establish two-factor authentication and check network activity daily for anything out of the ordinary.
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