Canary in the coal mine

[dan88911]

Target’s announcement disclose a vastly expanded universe of victims, but it revealed that the hackers had stolen a broader trove of data than originally reported. The company now says that other kinds of information were taken, including mailing and email addresses, phone numbers or names, the kind of data routinely collected from customers during interactions like shopping online or volunteering a phone number when using a call center.
Related Coverage

Target previously announced that about 40 million credit and debit card accounts of customers had been stolen.
Bits Blog: Target Alters Statement, Saying PINs Were StolenDEC. 27, 2013
A Target in Miami. The retailer is offering a 10 percent discount for shoppers this weekend.
In Apology, and a Sale, Target Tries to AppeaseDEC. 20, 2013
A transaction at a Target store in Miami. Purchases made from Nov. 27 to Dec. 15 are said to have been compromised.
Target Struck in the Cat-and-Mouse Game of Credit TheftDEC. 19, 2013
For Target’s Shoppers, a New Holiday To-Do ListDEC. 19, 2013

On Dec. 19, Target confirmed reports that payment data was stolen from about 40 million customers who shopped in its stores in the United States from Nov. 27 to mid-December. As its investigation into the theft continued, the company said it had found that an additional quantity of data, collected over time on 70 million people and stored separately from the in-store data, was stolen.

We don't shop there much and did not during this time frame. However, this is making me rethink using any card swiping payment system. I have gone back to paying in cash. As we did years ago.

[recycled sixtie]

I have not shopped at Target yet but I pay cash for most transactions. I had my internet account hacked about a year ago and and I changed my provider asap.
I immediately cancelled my credit card and got a new one issued.

So far no problems I agree cash is easy and quicker...
G.

[wdfifteen]

They said they were sorry. What do you want, accountability? It will be a long, long time before I even consider shopping at Target, not so much because of the breach, but because of the lame, weak, response. "we'll give you 10% of to come back and spin the wheel again." In friggin credible. Even my bookie will give me a $50 bonus to reload and try again.

[M.D. Holloway]

I don't have any money to steal...

[TheMentat]

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before: this is likely the data they went after:

How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did - Forbes

[widebody911]

What people either don't realize or don't are about is that a multi-billion dollar industry has sprung up in collecting and trading consumer information, and there are effectively no regulations whatsoever. This will get worse before it gets better. In much the same way that the auto industry weighs the cost of recalls against the cost of lawsuits, the information industry will only spend what they think is "just enough" to protect their (ooops, I mean your) data. Data security is considered to be an "IT" function, and as most of you know, IT is the retarded redheaded bastard stepchild in most companies - even computer companies.