What is carding?
Carding is a form of credit card fraud in which a stolen credit card is used to make online purchases, such as ordering items from amazon, cashing out bitcoins and also buying prepaid gift cards which can then later be sold to others, also can be used to purchase other goods that can be sold for cashWell, the credit card thieves who are involved in this type of fraud are called “carders.”
The United States is a significant target for credit card fraud because it is a large market in which credit card and debit card use is common.
And the types of cards that are used either only contain a magnetic stripe or employ a chip and signature technology, rather than the chip and personal identification number (PIN) technology found in most of Europe.
Inside a carding forum?
A carding forum are sites designed to facilitate the sharing of credit card information and discuss techniques of how to steal money from credit cards and bank accounts. An advantage of carding forums is that they are private and wont expose you as a criminal if you are caught. The main disadvantage of carding forums is that they can be hard to access them.Carding forums are often hidden using TOR routing, and payments made for stolen credit card data are performed using cryptocurrencies such as monero or Zcash to avoid tracking by authorities. Naturally, participants in carding forums use aliases to hide their true identities.
Forums are a source of credit card data and can also be used to share the results of carding – for example to sell success stories to other criminals.
How Carding Attacks Work
- Stolen payment cardholder data: The threat actors obtain complete sets of stolen payment card details from other applications, payment channels, or dark web
- Card payment process: The list of complete payment details are used to test purchses against commercial sites to test the validity of the card
- Validate card holder data: If successful, fraudsters can verify card details and the stolen account information to determine the value
How do these criminals get credit card information using carding attacks
There are various ways criminals can steal your credit card information and use it for carding purposes. Here are some of those methods.Malware
Malware, short for malicious software, is a program that helps cyber gain access to someone’s account or device.This is done usually without the user’s knowledge.
Once the malware is installed, it runs in the background and can record keystrokes, monitor the programs you use.
It may also collect personal information such as credit card numbers and account passwords.
Phishing
Phishing occurs when a scammer tries to trick you into sharing personal information. Such as social Security number or credit card account password.Thieves can use just about any medium in a phishing attack: emails, phone calls, text messages, social media direct messages, and postal mail.
The fraudster usually pretends to represent a trusted source, such as your bank, and claims there’s something wrong with your account. Once you’ve provided your personal information, the scammer may be able to use it for carding purposes.
Carding forums
A carding forum is an illegal website where criminals can buy and sell stolen credit card numbers. They also share methods for stealing financial details and may be able to test stolen card information on these forums.Carding forums are often hidden on the dark web.
Which is a portion of the Internet that can’t be reached with normal web browsers and isn’t indexed by search engines.
Credit card skimming
A credit card skimmer is a small, hard-to-spot device that thieves can install on top of a legitimate credit card reader, such as at a gas station pump.As you slide your credit card or debit card into a compromised machine, the card skimmer reads and stores your card’s information. A thief may be able to use your credit card details for carding.
How can you avoid carding attacks
With the above in mind, here are some tips on how you can avoid this type of cybercrime.- Use anti-spyware and malware-blocker software. Fraudsters who want to steal your credit card number through malware have to trick you into downloading infected software first. For instance, they may offer free game downloads that contain spyware, viruses, and other unwanted programs. Using anti-spyware and malware-blocker programs help keep your devices safe by identifying infected software programs and removing them.
- Promptly run software updates. Software updates generally improve the performance and security of your device. You can either set automatic security updates on your devices or accept your operating system’s software updates as they come up. It’s also a good idea to download software only from well-known, trusted sources.
- Know the signs of a phishing attempt. When you get a message from an unknown source, don’t click on links, download attachments, or respond to those messages. If it’s a scammer, they’re trying to get you to download malware or get you to share personal information, such as your credit card details. If you’re worried about an account, contact the company through its official website or by phone.
- Sign up for credit card notifications. Most credit card issuers offer customized alerts that can help you flag fraudulent charges. For instance, you may be able to get a text message each time your card has been used, a foreign transaction is made, or your balance has crossed a certain threshold.
- You may be able to catch a fraudulent charge as soon as the carder tries to test your credit card number.
- After reporting the fraud to your card issuer, it will cancel the transaction and give you a new card with a new account number.
- The card payment industry is taking steps to stop carders. While e-commerce retailers can implement security measures at checkout to help prevent fraudulent credit card charges, you have a few anti-fraud tactics available, too. Avoiding phishing attempts, regularly updating your device’s software, using anti-malware software, and signing up for credit card notifications can all help you avoid becoming a carding victim.
How to Protect Against Card Cracking Bots ( Carding Attacks)
The following techniques can help you safeguard your payment site against bad bots used in credit card cracking:Device fingerprinting
Fingerprinting is done by combining the user’s browser and device to understand who or what is connecting to the service.Fraudsters or bots who are attempting credit card fraud need to make multiple attempts, and cannot change their device every time.
They will need to switch browsers, clear their cache, use private or incognito mode, use virtual machines or device emulators, or use advanced fraud tools like FraudFox or MultiLogin.
Device fingerprinting can help identify browser and device parameters that remain the same between sessions, indicating the same entity is connecting again and again.
Fingerprinting technologies can create a unique device, browser and cookie identifier, which, if shared by multiple logins, raises the suspicion that all those logins are part of a fraud attempt.
Browser Validation
Some malicious bots can pretend to be running a specific browser, and then cycle through user agents to avoid being detected.Browser validation involves validating that each user browser is really what it claims to be – that it has the expected Javascript agent, is making calls in a way to be expected from that browser, and is operating in a way that is expected from human users.
Machine Learning Behaviour Analysis
Real users visiting a payment website exhibit typical behaviour patterns. Bots will typically behave very differently from this pattern, but in ways you cannot always define or identify in advance.You can use behavioral analysis technology to analyze user behaviour and detect anomalies – users or specific transactions that are anomalous or suspicious.
This can help identify bad blots and prevent cracking attempts. As part of behavioural analysis, try to analyse as much data as possible, including Urls accessed, site engagement metrics, mouse movements and mobile swipe behavior.
Reputation Analysis
There are many known software bots with predictable technical and behavioural patterns or originating IPs. Having access to a database of known bot patterns can help you identify bots accessing your website.Traffic that may appear at first glance to be a real user, can be easily identified by cross-referencing it with known fingerprints of bad bots.
Progressive Challenges
When your systems suspect a user is a bot, you should have a progressive mechanism for “challenging” the user to test if they are a bot or not. Progressive testing means that you try the least intrusive method first, to minimise disruption to real users. Here are several challenges you can use:- Cookie challenge – transparent to a real user
- JavaScript challenge – slightly slows down user experience
- Captcha – most disruptive
Multi-factor authentication
e-commerce sites can require users to sign in with something they know (for example, a password) and something they have (for example, a mobile phone).While this does not prevent cracking, it makes it more difficult for criminals to create large numbers of fake accounts, and renders it almost impossible for them to take over existing accounts.
API security
commerce sites often use credit card APIs, such as those offered by PayPal or Square, to facilitate transactions.These APIs can be vulnerable to attacks, such as Javascript injection or the rerouting of data, if not incorporated with the appropriate security. T
To protect against many of these attacks, e-commerce sites can use a combination of Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption and strong authentication and authorization mechanisms, like those offered by Auth and OpenID.