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Worried you might be among the 70 million Target breach victims? Here’s what you should do

Published Jan 15th, 2014 10:30AM EST
Target Breach Tips

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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.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.