eBay Web attack hops from other sites

Yet another sophisticated Web-based attack against eBay and its users is being investigated by a Tel Aviv-based security vendor that discovered a similar attack two months ago involving a custom-made bot designed to steal accounts.

Ofer Elzam, Aladdin Knowledge Systems' director of product management, says his firm has determined in the last few days that at least two Web sites, one called Save Our Planet and another called Nova Radio, appear to have been compromised with malicious code that combines to launch an attack against a site visitor. The goal of the attack is to combine code to break in through the browser to the victim's desktop and install a Trojan to collect eBay user account information, if it's found, and connect to eBay to use that account information to commit fraud.

"There are a chain of sites that work together," says Elzam. "One Web page uses a trick with JavaScript to open a size-zero window, which takes content from a third-party site."

Elzam says Aladdin hasn't yet been able to reach the operators of the Save Our Planet and Nova Radio sites-- and notes that forty more Web sites may be tied to this attack, which is very fluid and changing-- but it has been in touch with eBay.

"The last time we saw this kind of attack, in September, it was from an Israeli labor organization site," says Elzam. He adds that Aladdin has been able to detect the suspicious code mainly because it has a relationship with an Israeli ISP to conduct this type of security monitoring.

The current attack against eBay and its account holders, based on attack code made available through compromised Web sites and triggered by unsuspecting Web visitors, is an epidemic that's becoming a favorite way to conduct cybercrime, Elzam says. "This hopping from site to site makes it very hard to detect," he says.

• Bookmark this page
• Share this article
  •  
  • facebook
  • slashdot
  • digg
  • Reddit
  • stumbleupon
  • linkedin
  • twitter
• Got more on this story? Email Computerworld
• Follow Computerworld on twitter

• Share
  Share this article

  •  google+
  • facebookfacebook
  • slashdotslashdot
  • diggdigg
  • RedditReddit
  • stumbleuponstumbleupon
  • linkedinlinkedin
  • twittertwitter
• print
• email
• Bookmark