Dell Reveals Emerging Data Security Threats; Patrick Sweeney Comments

Dell Inc. has released a new report that indicates a growth in the point-of-sale malware landscape and increasing attacks on payment card systems.

Dell said Monday it examined various data sources to identify the threats and developed the report by gathering research from Dell SonicWALL’s global response intelligence defense network and telemetry data.

The report reveals a surge in malware traffic within encrypted web protocols, attacks on SCADA, or supervisory control and data acquisition, systems and POS malware attacks against the retail industry.

“Malware targeting point-of-sale systems is evolving drastically, and new trends like memory scraping and the use of encryption to avoid detection from firewalls are on the rise,” said Patrick Sweeney, executive director at Dell Security.

Dell also found an increase in POS attacks against Dell SonicWALL clients and modifications in POS malware techniques.

“To guard against the rising tide of breaches, retailers should implement more stringent training and firewall policies, as well as re-examine their data policies with partners and suppliers,” Sweeney said.

Dell observed how hackers exploited the HTTPS web protocol to conceal their malicious code, with a 109 percent rise in the volume of HTTPS web connections between the start of 2014 and the start of 2015.

“One way organizations mitigate this risk is through SSL-based web browser restrictions, with exceptions for commonly used business applications to avoid slowing company productivity,” Sweeney added.