Updates
January 10, 2014: Nieman-Marcus said it was also hacked at about the same time as Target. The investigation has just begun. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
January 10, 2014: originally Target said 40 million hacked; now at least 70 million, and very likely close to 110 million. In addition, the hackers got a lot more personal information than originally disclosed.
December 27, 2013: despite earlier, steadfast denials, Target now admits hackers got the PINs.
December 25, 2013: It was mentioned below that the 3-digit PINs had been stolen but the source of the story was "questionable." It is now being reported over at Yahoo!Finance that, yes, indeed, the 3-digit PINs had been stolen. Target has still not released what data was stolen from the credit cards. It will probably be awhile before I return to Target.
December 21, 2013: Target is telling its REDcard customers to continue using their cards. Even though the account numbers are stolen, Target says they are monitoring credit card use for "unusual buying trends," or something like that. Apparently in New York City, Target customers routinely buy Apple products (iPads, etc) in bulk. I cannot make this up. The New York Post is reporting:
A search of the vehicle turned up $20,000 worth of Apple goods in Target shopping bags inside the trunk. Receipts for the devices — 17 Apple iPad Airs, 11 iTouches and 14 iPad Minis — showed they had been purchased at area Targets, predominantly on Long Island, sources said.
Original Post
The Los Angeles Times is reporting what was exactly my experience:
Target — one of the country's largest retailers — is facing accusations that it waited too long in disclosing that its system had been hacked, exposing some 40 million of its customers' credit and debit card accounts. The Minneapolis company waited until Thursday to confirm that a break-in occurred between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15.
The information was then downplayed on the retailer's website, tucked out of view at the very top of the page.
Now, potential victims have said they've been having problems reaching Target's customer service department through its website and call centers. Angry and afraid of identity theft and that scammers might siphon their money dry, they took to social media in droves to vent.
Bekah Sims Andrews complained on Facebook of waiting for 48 minutes on hold hoping to reach a Target associate before being suddenly booted off the call and hearing a busy signal.
"Are you kidding?" Andrews posted on Target's page. "This is completely unacceptable."
Target apologized with a form response, saying the delays were caused by "significantly higher volume than normal" to call centers. The retailer said it was "adding team member support and system capacity as quickly as possible," working to "build capacity hour by hour."
Insult after injury. One gets 10% discount at Barnes and Noble day in, day out just for being a $25/year "loyal" customer.
It gets worse:
Target, with nearly 1,800 stores and $73 billion in revenue reported last year, would not release information on the effect the hacking news has had on its sales or its traffic, but outrage was ricocheting around the Internet. Customers complained that the company was not doing enough, and that they were encountering error messages while trying to check their Target REDcard accounts online.
John Kenyan, a REDcard holder, said in an email that when he tried to check his account for fraudulent activity, the account listed only the total purchase amount, the date and the store, without listing the individual items purchased. “This makes it almost impossible to check for fraud,” Mr. Kenyan said.
One wonders if Obamacare website, which apparently has no security precautions in place, is actually a safer bet at this time?Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consulting and research firm, said Target’s handling of the news had been “less than nimble,” because while the company became aware of the problem on Dec. 15, word first reached its customers days later when a blogger broke the news.
This is the real question: if Target only learned about this breach on the 15th, how did they put the necessary security in place by the 19th when the story broke? If it only took a day or two to put the necessary security in place, why wasn't it already done? Ten years ago? The Kansas City Star:
Target said it closed the breach quickly, once it was discovered, and assured customers that shopping was safe again.I will eventually go back to Target; it's one of my favorite retailers. But it will be awhile. And I will pay in cash. All I need right now is a package of cherry Twizzlers.
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