This is how your bank accounts are stolen from social networking sites

This is how social networking sites steal you without realizing it, as cybercriminals have created a new type of malware on the web that hides inside the images used for the buttons of social networking sites, with the aim of theft Credit card information entered on payment forms in online stores.

The malware - known as a web skimmer, or Magecart script - was spotted in online stores between June and September. It was first spotted by the Dutch information security company Sanguine Security.

While this particular form of malware has not been widely publicized, its discovery indicates that Magecart gangs are constantly developing their own malicious gimmicks.

Hide your privacy

On a technical level, the detected malware uses a technique known as steganography. This technique refers to hiding information in another format, for example, hiding text inside images.

In the world of malware attacks, steganography is often used as a way to hide malicious code from antivirus programs, by placing malicious code inside files that appear to be virus-free.

Over the past years, the most common form of steganography attack has been to hide malicious payloads inside image files, which are usually stored in PNG or JPG formats.

And in the world of malicious software called Magecart scripts, steganography works because most of them are usually hidden in JavaScript code, not inside image files.

The biggest theft in history

However, the technology has slowly seen some use among Magecart scripts, after previous steganography attacks used website logos, product images, or favicons to hide malware payloads.

How to protect your accounts from theft?

For those who want to protect themselves from this type of malware, users have very few options, as this type of code is usually invisible to them and very difficult to detect, even for professionals.

It is believed that the simplest way shoppers can protect themselves from magecart scripts is to use virtual cards designed for one-time payments.

Some banks or payment apps now provide these cards, which is the best way to deal with this malware on the Internet, since even if attackers manage to record transaction details, credit card data is useless because it is created for one-time use.