Sources: Target Investigating Data Breach
Summary: Target confirmed a data breach affecting up to 40 million credit and debit card accounts between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, 2013, after sources told KrebsOnSecurity the theft involved magnetic-stripe track data at nearly all of its U.S. stores. The breach was initially thought to run from just after Thanksgiving to Dec. 6, but investigators found evidence it extended at least another week, and there were no indications online shoppers were affected.
What's compelling: Stolen track data lets thieves encode the information onto any magnetic-stripe card to make counterfeits, and if PIN data was also intercepted, debit cards could be reproduced for ATM cash withdrawals. Two top-10 card issuers had already been notified by a card association about more than one million compromised cards between them, with one investigator saying the breach would rank among the largest retail breaches to date.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
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