Oracle's Micros Point-Of-Sale Systems Hit With Security Breach

Computer systems at software giant Oracle have been hacked and the attacks appear to be directed at its Micros Systems credit card payment system.

The security breach was first reported Monday by the Krebs on Security website, which said the size and scope of the break-in was still under investigation and it was unclear how long the attackers had access to the Oracle systems.

The Krebs report, citing two security experts that had been briefed on the breach investigation, said that a Russian organized cybercrime group "known for hacking into banks and retailers" appeared to be behind the attack that "breached hundreds of computer systems" at Oracle. Krebs said it began investigating a report of the incident July 25.

[Related: Oracle Partners: Micros Systems Deal Will Attract More Retail, Hospitality Customers]

Oracle acquired Micros Systems in September 2014 for $5.3 billion. The Columbia, Md.-based company develops point-of-sale credit card payment hardware and software for the retail and hospitality industries.

"Oracle Security has detected and addressed malicious code in certain legacy MICROS systems," the company said in a letter to Micros customers that was provided to CRN. "Oracle’s corporate network and Oracle’s other cloud and service offerings were not impacted by this code. Payment card data is encrypted both at rest and in transit in the MICROS hosted environment."

The vendor said it has implemented additional security measures for legacy Micros systems "to prevent a recurrence." The company is also requiring that all Micros customers change their passwords for all Micros accounts.

"We also recommend that you change the password for any account that was used by a MICROS representative to access your on-premises systems," the letter said.

The software vendor has otherwise declined to comment on the incident.

The Krebs on Security report said Oracle Micros Systems is one of the top three point-of-sale systems in the world. At the time of the acquisition in 2014, Oracle said the software was running at 330,000 customer sites in 180 countries.

Oracle partners at the time said they could see the potential synergy of the Micros System software working with Oracle's cloud services and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) strategy.