Lots of second-day stories following up on yesterday's revelation by Target that it is "aware of unauthorized access to payment card data that may have impacted certain guests making credit and debit card purchases in its U.S. stores.
• USA Today reports that Target is warning people who have shopped in its stores since Thanksgiving to keep a close eye on their credit and debit card statements, to see if they have been affected by the security breach that it said resulted in 40 million names, card numbers, security codes and expiration dates being accessed by hackers.
• CNBC reports that while the security breach goes back to Thanksgiving and was not disclosed until yesterday … by internet security standards, that's pretty quick. Companies have specific legal requirements, the story says, that determine how they inform both local and federal authorities … and if there was a delay in public notification, it may have been because law enforcement officials wanted to conduct a probe under the radar as long as possible.
• The Associated Press reports that "potential victims of credit card fraud tied to Target's security breach said they had trouble contacting the discounter through its website and call centers.
"Angry Target customers expressed their displeasure in comments on the company's Facebook page. Some even threatened to stop shopping at the store. Target apologized on Facebook and said it's working hard to resolve the problem and is adding more workers to field calls and help solve website issues."
• USA Today reports that Target is warning people who have shopped in its stores since Thanksgiving to keep a close eye on their credit and debit card statements, to see if they have been affected by the security breach that it said resulted in 40 million names, card numbers, security codes and expiration dates being accessed by hackers.
• CNBC reports that while the security breach goes back to Thanksgiving and was not disclosed until yesterday … by internet security standards, that's pretty quick. Companies have specific legal requirements, the story says, that determine how they inform both local and federal authorities … and if there was a delay in public notification, it may have been because law enforcement officials wanted to conduct a probe under the radar as long as possible.
• The Associated Press reports that "potential victims of credit card fraud tied to Target's security breach said they had trouble contacting the discounter through its website and call centers.
"Angry Target customers expressed their displeasure in comments on the company's Facebook page. Some even threatened to stop shopping at the store. Target apologized on Facebook and said it's working hard to resolve the problem and is adding more workers to field calls and help solve website issues."
- KC's View:
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I can't imagine that any of this is going to help Target's numbers for the last weekend before Christmas.
Maybe it's time to rethink its position and actually stock that new Beyoncé album…
