Target's data breach during Black Friday weekend compromised 40 million customers' card information through malware on point-of-sale terminals. Hackers captured names, card numbers, expiration dates, and CVV codes from the magnetic stripe. The Secret Service and state attorneys general are investigating, while online shoppers were unaffected.
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Today, Target announced that from the day before Thanksgiving all during Black Friday weekend and all the way up till this past Sunday, hackers somehow got into their system and stole roughly 40 million customers' names, credit and debit card numbers, card expiration dates, and 3-digit security codes. McAfee Security expert Robert Siciliano says it appears the bad guys breached the same credit card reading devices you swipe your card in, in the store, developing some sort of virus that reads your data the same way the real machine reads it. So we believe that the thieves were getting people's information off of the magnetic strip when it was swiped in one of these machines. Tell me how this scam would work.
So there's a good chance that the devices themselves have been compromised, meaning that the software internally, uh, had been, uh, compromised, say, at a main server that's responsible for controlling each one of these devices.
Siciliano says the thieves could have accessed Target systems from anywhere, and it's a problem that has been in the news a lot lately. Just last week, credit cards were compromised in Boston in the Seaport District. Investigators are still trying to figure out which store was hacked. And in 2007, the TJ Maxx companies were breached, reportedly affecting 90 million credit cards. Attorney General Martha Coakley told Fox 25 today she's now working with people involved in the TJ Maxx investigation and AGs all over the country to look for commonalities that might help prevent this from happening more and more.
Is to look at what was in place. Was the company, uh, involved in the right kinds of security for shoppers, particularly at this time of year?
It's believed this attack did does not affect people who pay with their credit card shopping on Target online. The Secret Service is investigating, and Target says the breach has been resolved. That's the good news. As for Dave Chalant, he took an extra step and actually reported the fraud to the Walmart and local police in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. And now the store manager there is going through surveillance video trying to identify who used his debit card digits. I'm Heather Hedgedus, Fox 25 News.
Nearly all of us use debit and credit cards, so will the huge data breach change your shopping habits? Tell us yes know by voting in our feedback poll, which is up right now on myfoxposta.com. The results a bit later on.
