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Europol and law-enforcement partners notified 443 online merchants in October and November 2023 that customers’ payment-card data had been compromised in digital-skimming attacks. The operation supported Greece and involved authorities from 16 countries, private partners, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), and national computer security incident response teams. The warning was reported in Europol’s Consolidated Annual Activity Report 2023; it is a historical operation, not a new alert issued in 2026.
What happened in the 2023 operation?
Europol’s 2023 annual report says the two-month operation enabled Europol and its partners to notify 443 online merchants that their customers’ credit-card or payment-card data had been compromised. The report does not say that every store was still infected when it received notice, how long any compromise lasted, or that every affected customer later experienced fraud.
Authorities from 16 countries took part, alongside private partners and ENISA. National Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) supported the action, which supported Greece. Separately, a contemporaneous SecurityWeek report published December 27, 2023 said the operation identified two dozen new digital skimmers. It also reported that Group-IB counted 132 digital-skimmer families at the time; that is a dated threat-intelligence estimate, not a current inventory.
What is digital skimming?
Europol defines it this way: “Digital skimming is the action of stealing credit card information or payment card data from customers of an online store.” The attack targets an online checkout form, not a physical payment terminal. It is also commonly called web skimming, online card skimming, e-skimming, formjacking, or Magecart. SecurityWeek uses the term JavaScript sniffers, or JS-sniffers. These labels overlap in general reporting; they do not mean every malware family or actor is the same.
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How the attack works
- An attacker gains access to an online store’s source code or server, or to code from a third-party tool used by the store.
- The attacker inserts malicious code into the payment flow.
- When a shopper enters payment details, the code copies the data. It may be sent immediately or held on the server for later collection.
Europol’s digital-skimming explainer notes that checkout can appear normal: a shopper may successfully place an order and expect delivery without realizing the card details were copied. Delayed collection can also make a compromise harder to spot.
What should online merchants do?
Europol recommends layered defenses rather than relying on a single control. A merchant’s security program should cover both its own ecommerce code and the third-party components included in the payment experience.
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- Install security patches and critical software updates promptly.
- Require multi-factor authentication (MFA) and strong passwords for staff accounts; restrict control-panel access to specific IP addresses where practical.
- Train staff to recognize and handle spearphishing attempts.
- Monitor for malware with capabilities specific to web skimming.
- Run regular automated vulnerability audits that include the ecommerce platform and installed third-party components.
- Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) and Subresource Integrity (SRI) to help control and verify scripts used on the site.
What to do if a store may be infected
Europol advises merchants who suspect an infection to act promptly and preserve information that may help an investigation:
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- Use a malware scanner to look for backdoors.
- Collect available evidence and report the attack to national police.
- If personal data was breached, comply with applicable GDPR legislation.
The GDPR step is general guidance; the appropriate obligations depend on the circumstances and applicable law.
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