This content was created by Robert Siciliano. This content was uploaded by Robert Siciliano. This is a YouTube interview segment titled "Neiman Marcus hacked and how to protect youself" (posted January 12, 2014). It features a news-style conversation between host Melissa and Robert Siciliano, a McAfee online security expert. They discuss recent retail data breaches (Target and Neiman Marcus), the possible connection between breaches, the scope of compromised customer payment and personal information, legal/financial consequences for retailers and card networks, and practical consumer advice (monitor bank/card statements frequently, dispute fraudulent charges to avoid liability).
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We've been keeping you up to date on the Target data breach. The company announcing yesterday up to 70 million more customers may have had their personal information compromised. And that is in addition to the 40 million shoppers whose payment card information was, uh, taken over the holiday shopping season. And now another major retailer confirming they too have been hacked. Neiman Marcus says thieves stole some of its customer payment card information over the holiday season as well and made fraudulent charges with that information. So Now a lot of people want to know, of course, how can we be sure our information is safe when we're shopping at large retailers like Target or Neiman Marcus? Joining me now is Robert Siciliano, a McAfee online security expert. Robert, thanks so much for being here.
Hi, Melissa.
All right, first off, these two security breaches, are they connected?
Well, that's not known at this point. I've been hearing some buzz that this is looking like a lot of the other breaches that have happened in the past, done by organized web mobs that were using similar tools and they were hacking retailers that weren't actually connected. Meaning they weren't the same company, but they had the same systems in place and they were in fact, you know, breached around the same time. So it is certainly possible.
All right, if they can infiltrate these huge companies— Target, Neiman Marcus— you said the security systems might be the same even if it's not the same corporation. Is this going to keep continuing now? Are we going to hear that even more stores over the holidays, we might have been hacked, our information might have been stolen?
Well, it's certainly very possible. You know, this has been going on for at least a decade where we live in a database society and our information is on numerous databases, all of which are targets of of criminal hackers. And so over the next few months, you may find other retailers that may come out saying, hey, they were hacked as well.
All right, well, you know, me as a consumer, you know, I'm worried now. I want to check all of my accounts and make sure that it's okay. What are we supposed to do? I mean, if every couple months something else is going to come out, how do we stay protected?
So consider your data breached. You know, my wife, me, you know, our information was compromised in this breach, along with many others who shop at Target. So consider your data breached. That being said, most people don't check their statements, meaning 9 out of 10 people don't even look at their statements. They're paper statements. What you should be doing is looking at them online weekly at a minimum, and I look at my mobile applications on my iPhone via my Bank of America, Citibank, and American Express every single day. You know, if you're checking your Facebook page 20 times a day, why not check your bank statement at least once a day?
Good advice. And if you do find some fraudulent activity, you'll be covered. Target's come out and said that you're not going to be liable for that fraud.
Well, here's the thing. You have to find that fraudulent activity. They're not going to find it for you. So as long as you find that activity, that fraudulent charge, and refute it within a 30 to 60 day period of time, you're going to be fine.
What about the companies? What kind of legal action, if there's any, could they face? I mean, Target as a corporation, now Neiman Marcus, you know, we had TJX in the past. What happens to them when these kind of breaches take place?
Well, unfortunately for these organizations, lawsuits are inevitable. You'll see class action suits, you'll see Visa, MasterCard, American Express all probably looking to get some money back because they're going to all have to replace cards. You know, it costs between $5 and $10 per debit and credit card to replace them, and the consumers who were breached more than likely are going to get new cards over the next 3 to 6 months.
All right, this could be silly in this day and age to ask you this, but should we just go back to cash? Is that the safest thing to do?
No, I don't worry about credit card fraud. It's crazy, you know, when I say this, people are like, you know, really, you don't? See, I don't worry about credit card fraud. What I do is I worry about checking my statements, and as long as I do that, I'm going to be fine. As long as anybody does that, You're going to be fine. You know, the retailers have zero— or the credit card companies have zero liability policies. And as long as they have that in place, and as long as you're paying attention to your statements, in general, you're going to be in pretty good shape.
All right, so then we— I don't need to go out and start carrying the cash around. I don't need to be worried when I go shopping. It just seems scary, but like you said, there's enough in place now to protect us that we can go about our business as long as we stay vigilant about checking our accounts all the time.
As long as you, as the consumer, are paying attention to your accounts, in the end, you're going to be good. If you're not paying attention to your accounts, you could be paying for the dinner of an identity thief.
Good advice there, Robert Siciliano, McAfee Online Security Expert. Thanks so much for being here.
