Analysis Summary

The payment gateway provider Slim CD has revealed that almost 1.7 million people's credit card and personal information was exposed in a data breach.

The company reports that threat actors gained access to its network for over a year, from August 2023 to June 2024, in the notification that was delivered to affected clients. Slim CD offers payment processing solutions that let companies accept card and electronic payments using desktop, mobile, and web-based terminals.

On June 15, this year, the company saw suspicious activity on its networks for the first time. The organization found out during the inquiry that threat actors had been able to access its network since August 17, 2023. Nevertheless, Slim CD claims that this year, for two days on June 14 and 15, the threat actor viewed or gained access to credit card information. Between June 14, 2024, and June 15, 2024, the access might have allowed an unauthorized actor to view or gain specific credit card information.

Full name, physical address, credit card number, and payment card expiration date are some categories of data that could have been accessed by the attackers. Even though there isn't enough information exposed for cybercriminals to conduct fraudulent transactions, there is still a chance of credit card fraud because the card verification number (CVV) is missing.

According to Slim CD, steps have been taken to bolster security to avert future occurrences of this kind. Simultaneously, it cautions the notice recipients to report any unusual behavior to the card issuer as soon as possible and to stay alert for indications of fraud and identity theft attempts.

The impacted people weren't provided with any free identity theft prevention services. Although Slim CD provides payment processing services to several businesses, such as restaurants, retail, and hospitality, the people who are receiving the breach alerts are probably not familiar with the company because they have never had direct contact with it.

Impact

• Unauthorized Access
• Exposure of Sensitive Data
• Information Theft
• Identity Theft

Remediation

• Regularly change passwords for all accounts and use strong, unique passwords for sensitive accounts.
• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all accounts to add an extra layer of security to login processes.
• Consider the use of phishing-resistant authenticators to further enhance security. These types of authenticators are designed to resist phishing attempts and provide additional protection against social engineering attacks.
• Regularly monitor network activity for any unusual behavior, as this may indicate that a cyberattack is underway.
• Organizations need to stay vigilant and follow best practices for cybersecurity to protect their systems and data from potential threats. This includes regularly updating software and implementing strong access controls and monitoring tools.
• Develop a comprehensive incident response plan to respond effectively in case of a security breach or data leakage.
• Maintain regular backups of critical data and systems to ensure data recovery in case of a security incident.
• Adhere to security best practices, including the principle of least privilege, and ensure that users and applications have only the necessary permissions.
• Establish a robust patch management process to ensure that security patches are evaluated, tested, and applied promptly.
• Conduct security audits and assessments to evaluate the overall security posture of your systems and networks.
• Implement network segmentation to contain and isolate potential threats to limit their impact on critical systems.
• Never trust or open links and attachments received from unknown sources/senders.