Author of malware used in Target breach was a Russian teenager

The security breach that impacted 70 million Target customers last month may have been caused by malware created by a 17-year-old Russian hacker. While the suspected teenager wasn’t actually responsible for perpetrating the attacks, he did reportedly write the software, known as BlackPOS, that was used after being purchased by the eventual attackers. 

Security firm IntelCrawler said Friday that it has identified a Russian teenager as the author of the malware probably used in the cyberattacks against Target and Neiman Marcus, and that it expects more retailers to acknowledge that their systems were breached. In a report posted online, the Sherman Oaks, Calif., company said the author of the malware used in the attacks has sold more than 60 versions of the software to cybercriminals in Eastern Europe and other countries.