'Chewbacca' hack attack hits shops in 11 countries

Cyber criminals reportedly targeted retail shops in 11 countries using a malicious software called 'Chewbacca'.

Although, sever at the centre of the attack had been shut down, hackers managed to pull out details of about 24 million credit and debit card transactions from the affected retailers.

According to the BBC, the retailers were from countries including Russia, Australia, Canada and the US

Security analyst Yotam Gottesman said that the thieves grabbed data from equipment at cash tills in "several dozen" shops.

Meanwhile, security company RSA that first discovered Chewbacca, informed the affected shops.

The report said that the software was given the name "Chewbacca" because the login page for the server collating data from infected point-of-sale machines featured a picture of the Star Wars wookie.

The Chewbacca attack follows the mega credit card data breach at US retailer Target that compromised information of about 110 million customers.