14 DAY TRIAL // A major criminal ring in Russia is said to be behind the recent breach suffered by high-end retailer Neiman Marcus. Authorities have been trying to dismantle the group for years, but without too much success.
Two unnamed former US officials have told Bloomberg that the group in question is said to be responsible for stealing over 160 million credit card records over a period of seven years.
The list of victims includes Carrefour, J.C. Penney, Visa, Citigroup, 7-Eleven, JetBlue Airways, and many others. Over 100 companies are said to have been targeted.
US authorities have been working with Russian agencies in an effort to bring down the syndicate, but to no avail. Some officials believe that the Russians only pretended to assist the FBI with its investigation so that they could track down hackers who they could use for their own goals.
Some members of the cybercrime group have been indicted, and some of them have even been arrested. However, it appears that these are low-level players who could be easily replaced by the masterminds of the operation.
Initially, it was believed that the same hackers who breached Target were responsible for the attack on Michaels and Neiman Marcus. However, as more details came to light, it became clear that there were different perpetrators.
The attacks on Target and Michaels are said to have been carried out by less sophisticated groups.