Millions Of Target Shoppers May Have Had Credit Card Info Stolen
Have you used your credit card at a Target Store this shopping season? Your information may be at risk!
There has been a major breach in the department store’s credit card system that allowed payment data from tens of millions of shoppers to be stolen since black Friday.
From Target Press Release:
Approximately 40 million credit and debit card accounts may have been impacted between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, 2013. Target alerted authorities and financial institutions immediately after it was made aware of the unauthorized access, and is putting all appropriate resources behind these efforts. Among other actions, Target is partnering with a leading third-party forensics firm to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident.
According to CBS, "Investigators believe the data was obtained via software installed on machines that customers use to swipe magnetic strips on their cards when paying for merchandise at Target stores." They say that ‘track data’ from at least one million customers was likely stolen before the problem was even discovered.
Anyone who swiped a card at Target in the past month or so should probably keep a close eye on their credit accounts.
With four Target stores in Fort Collins/Loveland/Greeley, I'm sure plenty of us here in Northern Colorado were shopping there during the affected dates.
Can I say that I am really starting to despise cyber criminals?