70 Million more Target shoppers are under risk for identity theft as their names, addresses and phone numbers were all stolen. According to the Washington post, the more data is stolen by the cyber criminals, the easier it would be for them to engage in identity theft. Security experts comment, “These criminal are building up dossiers on individuals.” Once an email, a phone number, or other pieces of information are stolen- a person becomes a sitting duck.
This is one of the worst security breaches in history. Occurring this past holiday shopping season, 40 million customers were affected- in that their very personal data and private information was stolen.
Two class action lawsuits as well as federal investigations and state inquiries have come to Target as a result of the massive data theft. John Kindervag, an analyst with Forrester comments, “All the costs are going to eat up their profits, There’s going to be shareholder revolts. There’s going to be prosecutions. They’ve stepped in quicksand. It’s not going to be fun.”
Target’s chief executive has formally apologized and the company is working with the FBI and other teams to find out who perpetrated the attack. “The full extent of the attack is still unknown as Target continues its investigation, although the total number of shoppers affected by the attack may be more than 100 million, according to Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder. The company said it doesn’t know how many customers have found fraudulent charges on their credit or debit cards so far, but individual stories and lawsuits are beginning to crop up across the country.”
The Target Corporation is an American retailing company, founded in 1902 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Target is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, only after Walmart. The company is ranked 36th on the Fortune 500 as of last year. For jobs at Target, click here.
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