As has been widely reported over the past month, Target was the target of a major security breach that compromised credit and debit card data belonging to a staggering 70 million consumers. The attack took place during the busy holiday shopping season and as was discovered late last month, many of the cards impacted by the breach are already being sold on the black market along with associated sensitive cardholder data. This is a huge breach with obvious widespread implications for a shockingly large number of American consumers — 70 million represents more than 20% of the U.S. population. If you think you may be among those affected, however, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself.
In a recent report from The Associated Press, technology writer Bree Fowler shares a number of important tips in question and answer format. The piece provides background on how the Target breach happened and also explains what might happen to consumers affected by the breach. Finally, and most importantly, the article tells consumers what they should do to protect themselves and also what to do if they find suspicious charges on their accounts, or suspect that they may be victims of identity theft.
The AP’s article is an important read, and it’s linked below in our source section.
