The target data breach affected over 70 million shoppers in the U.S. between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2013. While most people who didn’t shop at Target during that timeframe aren’t concerned, the company may hold information based on previous history. It’s critical to contact your credit card company if you’ve shopped at target in the past.
In most retail data breaches, cybercriminals will replace the store’s credit card swiping device with their own, which allows them to steal information, including account numbers, names, and addresses from customers who use credit or debit cards. However, this method of data theft is unlikely to be the cause for Target’s data breach. It’s far too difficult to replace the credit card swiping devices in a massive amount of stores.
Most security experts believe the data breach occurred due to memory-scraping malware on the point-of-sale systems. This method of data theft involves the cybercriminal infiltrating the merchant’s network, then installing malware on the point-of-sale system to extract full magnetic stripe data in random access memory (RAM).
If you use a debit or credit card, subscribe for notifications when transactions occur. This allows you to contact your debit or credit card company immediately after you’ve been notified regarding a suspicious transaction.
To learn more about Target’s Data breach, give us a call at (831) 753-7677 or send us an email at [email protected]. Alvarez Technology Group can help you stay up to date on the latest security threats and data breaches.
