In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (“Target Staff Had Warning,” Feb. 15-16, 2014), it was reported that Target Corp.’s computer security staff, “raised concerns about vulnerabilities in the retailer’s payment card system at least two months before hackers stole,” what turned into some 110 million credit and debit numbers of customers.
Apparently memos were distributed last spring by the federal government and private research firms on the “emergence of new types of malicious computer code targeting payment terminals,” the story reported by Wall Street Journal reporters Danny Yadron, Paul Ziobro and Devlin Barrett. The response from the Minneapolis based Target was that “at least initially [it] was brushed off.”
Target representatives declined to comment to the newspaper to confirm or deny on the warning.
What was particularly frightening in the story was the reporters stating, “The new details, culled from interviews with former Target employees, people with knowledge of the post breach investigation and others who work with large corporate networks, show that the breach wasn’t entirely a bolt from the blue, but instead a sophisticated attack on a known point of vulnerability.” Yet, the story goes on the report that Target’s Chief Financial Officer, John Mulligan, told Congress that the company wasn’t aware of the malicious computer code until notified by federal investigators late last year.
Also concerning in the story is the reporting that, “Several members of Target’s cybersecurity team left the company in the months before the hack.”
Clifford Law Offices is part of the legal team that represents a number of Target customers who have had to deal with the compromise of their private information, including some people dealing with fraudulent charges. If you have been the victim of the Target data breach, contact Clifford Law Offices to sign up for the class action lawsuit action, 312-899-9090 or visit www.CliffordLaw.com