Security News > 2022 > February > Target open sources scanner for digital credit card skimmers
Target, one of the largest American department store chains and e-commerce retailers, has open sourced 'Merry Maker' - its years-old proprietary scanner for payment card skimming.
A skimmer is malicious code injected into shopping sites to steal customers' credit card data at checkout.
By open-sourcing Merry-Maker, Target helps online retailers fight the credit card skimming threat that's been affecting the sector for years.
The site is an attractive target for credit card thieves as it enjoys high traffic.
As the credit card skimming threat increased, two of Target's security engineers, Eric Brandel and Caleb Walch, took action and in 2018 they created 'Merry Maker' to detect code that steals payment card data.
Merry Maker relies on Puppeteer - a Node.js component, to control the client-side scanner implemented through a headless browser, Target explains in a more technical report.