Back in December 2013, a little before Christmas, retailer Target announced that their systems had been breached and that around 40 million credit card numbers were stolen in the process. Target then went on to reveal that encrypted bank PINs were stolen as well, and now according to a new report from the retailer, it seems that the security breach was larger than they had expected as it has been revealed that more than 70 million phone numbers, mailing address, email address, and names had been compromised as well. While most of this information can be readily found online, it can still be used by thieves and hackers who might use it for other nefarious purposes.
According to Target, the information about their customers are stored separately from the 40 million credit card numbers that were previously stolen, and while there could be overlapping information, Target did not reveal how extensive it was. However the semi-good news is that Target has since identified the point of attack which has since been closed off. It is unclear what the authorities are planning to do about these breaches at the moment, and if Target could be facing some legal consequences as well, if not from the government, from its shoppers possibly who might not appreciate having their information stolen as it could be seen as negligence on Target’s part. In any case this recent security breach is definitely not helping customers forgive and forget the previous incident.