Hackers plant card-stealing malware on website that sells baron and duke titles
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<p>A threat actor has hacked the website of the Principality of Sealand, a micronation in the North Sea, and planted malicious code on its web store, which the government is using to sell baron, count, duke, and other nobility titles.</p><p>Called a “web skimmer,” the malicious code allowed the hackers to collect user and payment card details for anyone who purchased products, such as nobility titles, from the <a href="https://sealandgov.org/shop/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">country’s online store</a>.</p><p>All transactions made on the site from October 12 have been intercepted by the hackers, Willem de Groot, founder of web security firm Sansec, told <em>The Record</em> in a phone call today.</p><p>De Groot said he discovered the code while analyzing the infrastructure of a web skimming group that has been active since last year.</p><p>The Sansec founder said he found the same code on the website of a French security services provider as well.</p><figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hackers have taken control of the government site of Sealand, the North Sea micronation, since Oct 12th. <br><br>People buying Baron or Duke titles have likely been skimmed. Sorry, sirs! <a href="https://t.co/bQvzbXQ21F">pic.twitter.com/bQvzbXQ21F</a></p>— gwillem (@gwillem) <a href="https://twitter.com/gwillem/status/1465329650159304704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="6300b9e43af5bc5abd7e1097-text/javascript"></script> </div></figure><p>De Groot said the code was not functioning today due to an error but had been active since it was first planted on the Sealand website.</p><p>Founded in 1968 by Paddy Roy Bates, one of the operators of pirate radio station <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Caroline" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Radio Caroline</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Principality of Sealand</a> is located on a decommissioned World War II military fort situated 11 kilometers off the UK coast in the North Sea.</p><p>While it declared its independence and sovereignty in the ’60s, the principality was never recognized as a formal state by any other UN nation and is considered a media stunt.</p><p>The principality is primarily known these days for selling nobility titles through its website, a practice used by many other small countries or local governments to raise funds for their local budgets.</p><p>A Sealand spokesperson could not be reached via telephone, and a request for comment sent via email was not returned prior to publication.</p>
