Target: Update on Security Breach (+ 1 Year of Free Credit Monitoring & Identity Theft Protection)

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As most of you likely know (and as I posted here last month), unauthorized access to Target’s payment card data for in-store purchases made between November 27th and December 15th affected millions of credit and debit cardholders. In fact, Target reported today that the investigation has determined that in addition to the payment card information, the stolen information also include names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses for up to 70 million individuals.

If you did indeed shop at a Target store in the U.S. from 11/27-12/15, Target will be offering you one year of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection (including a free credit report, daily credit monitoring, identity theft insurance where available, and access to personalized assistance). Note that all details will be shared next week including specific instructions on how to enroll; and you will have three months to enroll in the program. Click here for more information.

(Thanks, April!)

Join The Discussion

Comments 98

  1. animity

    Good for Target.

  2. Jessica

    Sorry if this us a dumb question but is this only for people who were affected or everyone in general who shopped during the dates? I shopped at Target during the breach time but after hearing about the issue I quickly had my card cancelled and teissued so I don’t know if I would had been affected.

    • CW

      I want to know too. I was never notified of any breach but today I called all of my credit cards and had them reissue numbers just to be safe. Target can’t even tell you what cards you used in that time frame. I am livid…we are unlisted/unpublished for security reasons (husband’s job) and we have guarded our info carefully for 10 yrs, now its out there….

      • Alea

        It’s a huge risk you take whenever you use credit cards anywhere. It can happen to anyone at anytime – gas station, grocery stores, etc. The safe way to shop is with cash.

        • Sussie

          It’s isn’t a huge risk because most of the time there isn’t a problem. But everyone should be aware that hacking is possible.

      • Mary

        Jessica…I hope they’re offering it for everyone! They may not haven taken money from your account but they might have all your data including your ss# … so monitoring is def necessary!

        • Mira

          The offer is for “ALL GUESTS” – whether you shopped at the store or not, if you have given any information to Target in the past, you need to protect yourself. The details given today, affects personal data – emails, addresses, phone numbers, if you look around the web and on Redditt there’s sites that have been selling these in bulk. It’s really scary stuff.. so do what you have to do, but my opinion is don’t just assume everything will be OK…

          • Linda

            Mira, you give your email just leaving a comment on this post. And, I bet you have signed up for plenty of free samples and magazine. It’s really no different.

      • Em

        CW- if you need your info to be that guarded you should be using cash only.

        • Mira

          EM – just fyi the announcement today was “separate from the payment card data previously disclosed -” — this is about personal data, so even if you paid cash, or didn’t even buy anything from Target, but are on an email, text, gave access through phone apps, you’re data was likely compromised. As we’ve mentioned, it’s like leaving your front door open. We love Target, but with news report revealing millions of name, numbers and addresses for sale on websites.. its too easy to be an email or text click away from giving a criminal access to your computer and phone. We are hoping for the best, and Target in the coming weeks starts to give more details so customers feel more comfortable.

          • Em

            You give your address, email and all of that to websites all the time. All of these free magazines, samples, etc there are a fair amount of them selling your information

      • tilla ham

        in order to find out what cards you use, you just need to look at your statement and see if you shopped at target. not targets fault at all

      • tilla ham

        there is no way in todays technology an unpublished unlisted phone number isn’t available. I can find your house and phone number in ten minutes on the internet by just knowing your name (which I don’t), but my husband is an IT manager and could find your IP address, and within 30 minutes know your entire existence (if he so choose to use his knowledge for evil, which he doesn’t ) if you use a cell phone, you can be tracked and monitored. if you applied for credit anywhere at any time your information is out there, if you wrote a check your information is out there. Unless you are using a false identity, not utilizing technology and paying cash, your information is out there

        • Mira

          The news out today from Target – is in there words “separate from the payment card data previously disclosed” its irregardless if you shopped or used a credit card at the store. Its why it is offering Free Credit Monitoring to “ALL GUESTS”… If you’ve signed up for Target emails, free samples, phone apps, text messages, whether or not you shopped at Target during the holiday season or not, your data has been compromised. 70 million customers, that’s 1 out of every 3 Adults in America. Sadly, some unsuspecting innocent customer is going to fall victim to the next wave of phishing.. right now a lot of people have their door wide open, its up to you whether you want to lock it. Sure any average joe can look up a phone number, but the people/group responsible for this is clearly malicious…

      • Sussie

        “Target can’t even tell you what cards you used…”. As a consumer and owner of the credit card, you are responsible for keeping track of when and where you used your credit card(s). If you didn’t, you certainly can’t be mad at Target. As far as being “unlisted/unpublished for security reasons”, unless you’re in the witness protection program, your information is out there as soon as you swipe a card. So if you’re using your real name, ss number, date of birth, etc. (like most of us) forget about guarding your info, because you can’t. Systems are hacked all the time, they just don’t make the news.

      • Lisa

        Hey CW – I fully understand your concern, and just wanted to let you know that at least one person did. Sorry for others high-handedness. *That* is what makes me livid.

    • Alea

      Separate, but if you already cancelled and reissued your cards you are fine.

      Names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses are pretty much public knowledge for most of us – a quick search internet will show that information especially if we enter contests or sign up for freebies.

      • CW

        Yes I’m not in that “most” category we are not of public record, covered by a state law. For the first time in 10 yrs, our info is out there. 🙁

        • Christen

          CW–you sound like you’re in witness protection or something lol relax

          • amy

            lol I agree. If you are that worried you should use cash. Using a credit card at any time opens you up to something like this.

          • Susan

            Christen – There are certain people who society who are specifically protected by privacy laws for a REASON. When you go through the nightmare of being stalked and having your life threatened on a daily basis, please let me know how relaxing it is. I’ve worked hard to remove any trace of myself online because my life was in danger. For many people, especially women, this is a very serious breach.

            • CW

              Thank you Susan you are right. It’s my hubby’s job and his life has been threatened twice. Some states have laws to protect certain jobs and we have guarded our info carefully. Not even one piece of junk mail or solicitation call in over 10 yrs. that’s how much we guard our info.

            • ?

              if your husbands job is so private, you probably shouldn’t be mentioning it on the internet

            • Sussie

              If that is the case, then those people will use cash….only. Furthermore, out of the millions of credit card numbers out there, what are the chances that the hacker will know these people personally?

            • Christen

              “CW” I’m just saying, if it’s so secret and you are so appalled and frightened for security reasons, why are you even posting about it? Doesn’t make sense that a reasonable person would do that, therefore I think you are most likely just being dramatic. No offense, but people are so easily upset and everything is made into such a big deal. Remain calm people! 🙂

        • Em

          You do know that Collin can track your IP address saying right where you are? Her site is hackable.

    • Mary Mumpower

      Jessica…I hope they’re offering it for everyone! They may not haven taken money from your account but they might have all your data including your ss# … so monitoring is def necessary!

    • axhilli

      This was taken for Target facebook page so you should be able to sign up for the free monitoring they are offering. “To provide peace of mind, we are offering one year of free credit monitoring & identity theft protection to ALL guests. More details to come next week. https://tgt.biz/CM

  3. Jess

    Giving them my info again??? I think not!

    • Alea

      Target still has your information.

    • Paula

      I agree Jess lol

  4. Jennifer

    I canceled my card like Jessica did. My husband’s card was also used, and we got a notice from our bank last week his information was compromised so they were reissuing him a card. I won’t be shopping at Target, but I think they should have offered this in the first place and am glad that they are offering it now.

    • Casey

      I heard they were offering credit monitoring soon after it happen. The important thing to take note of is this; credit card fraud can happen anywhere, at anytime. You are at risk every time you swipe your debit or credit card. People are so quick to say, they are no longer shopping at Target. Maybe switch to cash and then you will not have to worry.

    • tilla ham

      why don’t you be shopping at target? I’m so confused as to why people blame target for this. In this day and age of technology, hackers are brilliant and can even hack the pentagon. How is target being the victim of a crime, their fault?

      • cpefley

        Agreed! It wasn’t Target’s fault. That is like if someone breaks into your house and steals something that didn’t belong to you (like a book borrowed from a friend) and your friend blaming you for it getting stolen. It could have happened to ANY store, website, government agency, etc.

  5. C

    Thank you for the update, Hip2Save!

    My $4 copy of The Grea Gatsby is turning into more fuss than I expected…

    • Natasha C

      I know right. I went in for wheat thins and eggs.

      • Susan

        Got you both beat, I bought 1 hot wheels car 1.05 :/

  6. Melissa

    I was just thinking the same thing. I think I will pass on that deal.

  7. zoe

    how can they get all of this info?? i dont have a target card, i dont think this is possible to get all my info.

    • Thia

      Think again!

      I’m so sorry to add this, but it really is true – anyone can obtain your information. We all leave some type of paper trail whether we use cash, credit or debit.

  8. tesneim

    Chase automatically notified me and I just got my new card today. I don’t think I will be using their new offer to help us, since we are giving them our information again.

  9. heather

    How did they get email and home addresses? Sounds like they got info from newsletter subscribers and ship to home customers. This might be much worse than it sounds. 70 million-what’s that 1/5 of the U.S. pop?

    • axhilli

      I think people with Target Red Cards may have it worse because if they got ahold of Target’s records people that apply for Red Cards provide their address, email, phone number and SS#.

      • CW

        omg

    • Maureen

      Yep pretty close to 1/5 of the population. I was rather surprised at the large number considering not all the population is able to shop at Target.

  10. Cara

    had to get a new card too! Cant get to my paycheck for 7-10 business days! Makes me so mad! I bet Target loses lots of business over this! I will probably shop there still for deals, but cash only! Thanks Colin for the heads up! 🙂

  11. Onenationgoneunder

    You won’t be giving Target your information people… They will outsource to a credit monitoring company.

    • cpefley

      I was just going to say that. The protection comes from the credit reporting bureaus that already have the information in question. They will monitor it for a fee, but Target is offering to pay that fee.

  12. Chels

    Just canceled my red card today after seeing the numbers go from 40k to 70k! Got through in less than 5 minutes, not using the number on the back of the card (it just kept ringing).

    • Chels

      Sorry that’s 40 million to 70 million*

      • annie

        actually it’s now now to 110 million people.

        • Joy

          Your right. 70 million in addition to the 40 million and before Black Friday too.

          • v

            Yep…I heard that info too. It affects purchases that go way back “before” the holiday shopping dates. Online also compromised. I’d assume info on pharmacy usage gets included in that…either now or an announcement will come forth at some future date. Seems somehow…an individual of group of individuals had free rein for a while rummaging thru Target’s data.
            Any info on leads to those that may be responsible? Inside job?

  13. Heather

    This only affects people who shopped in store correct? I used my card on their website so I should be safe correct?

    • Katie

      I heard on the news (abc) that it happened to online shoppers too.

  14. ~jenn~

    All I can say is…. I love my paypal business card and push notifications. I know when my card is used, where and how much within minutes of a transaction right there on my phone screen. The 1% cash back every month doesn’t hurt either.

    • Carrie33

      After my paypal business card was compromised and used, paypal set me up with instant notifications as well.

      Fraud can’t be eliminated but I do like the stricter controls.

      Notifications are available on my discover card as well. Possibly other credit cards as well? That may be everyone’s best and first option to learning something has been compromised.

      • cpefley

        Paypal told me the same. They quickly told me that my card had been used during those days and they would monitor activity. Love Paypal!

    • Tilla Ham

      I absolutely love paypal and my paypal card, however my paypal has been compromised twice in 7 years. They were quick to fix it, issue me new cards, help change my passwords and refund all monies.

  15. Mira

    Please stress that the details revealed today extend beyond those customers that shopped during the aforementioned weeks. Today’s announcement extended free credit monitoring to “ALL GUESTS” as customers personal data, whether a recent shopper or not has been compromised. Target did not reveal how this data was collected, but if you have signed up for emails, txt messages, downloaded apps, it is likely you’ve provided it to Target. In the coming weeks Target as a public company is required by law to reveal details to the financial community. Since the company has not revealed any details about how this occurred or how it fixed the issue, we’ve been telling friend and family to be extremely cautious and to take full advantage of the free credit monitoring. If criminals have your email, address and phone number, its like leaving your front door open. We would refrain from downloading, or opening anything from Target until they are more transparent about its investigation. Technology these days, makes it too easy to accidentally open a fraudulent txt, email, app that is a gateway to access all your financial data.

  16. She

    We were taken for a few purchases behind this. The charges were disputed and the cards were cancelled. My husband and I are on the fence about getting this for free or paying for another.

  17. Ger

    Hello Collin,

    Just wanted to let you know that wrapp is having a promo on H&M! When you send 3 ppl free $6 H&M, you get one as well! Yah!!!

    • cpefley

      Thanks for sharing! 🙂

  18. rebecca

    the breech only affects people who shopped in stores in the US to my knowledge, not anyone who shopped online so you should be safe heather. from what i read the credit monitoring is for everyone who shopped during that time frame in the stores and used a credit/debit card. from my understanding all of your billing information is attached to your numbers somehow so that’s how they stole your info. (that’s why you can insert a credit card for identification at an airport check-in kiosk). this thing can happen to anyone anywhere that you use a credit card, i think target’s done almost everything right in reporting it, trying to make it better for customers who were affected, working with the authorities, etc. if this happened at john doe’s gas station they wouldn’t be doing nearly as much if anything. if you’re really concerned use cash. even then your info can be stolen. we were recently exposed to possibly identity theft through a rogue employee in human resources for my husband’s school district. not saying that to scare yall, but what can you do nowadays?

  19. carrie

    After a burglary of my home three years ago when I was out of town (so who knew what was stolen?) I had a freeze put on my account with all three credit reporting agencies. This is in effect until you I it removed. If I need to have it removed temporaily to open a new bank account or get a car loan or the like, the cost is about $5. (You can also have the freeze permanently lifted.) The result is that no one can open a credit account in my name. The downside is that you have to jump through hoops to get your own credit report, but there isn’t anything on there to be concerned about if your accounts are frozen. Obviously, it doesn’t protect against incidents like the one with Target, but it provides me some peace of mind.

  20. Rae

    uh oh… I had talked to my bank CS when this all first happened and they said they were looking at accounts to check for fraud. This announcement makes it seem like there may be info leaked thats outside of my banks monitoring abilities. I actually feel bad for the company because its not their fault this happened. As prior posters mentioned, as consumers to use cash and in-store purchases are the safer way to shop. I almost never use cash though. I will wait for the final report before I get worried about it though.

    • CW

      That’s exactly why I changed all credit cards – all, just today, when I previously did not when it happened. Couldn’t remember which I used and I’m not taking chances.

  21. Casey

    How many times do you enter your address into a website? Not sure why having addresses is a big deal.

  22. Cannielle

    This is happening everyday whether shop online or in any store with our debit or credit cards, not Target’s fault. I am sorry for everyone that affected by this horrible incident, protect your info carefully and choosing a good bank is all you need.

  23. Joy

    “The information, said Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder, was collected during the “course of normal business,” and could include online shopping.”

  24. Angela

    Good for you Target. For those that are canceling their Target cards and chosing not to shop there anymore, you also need to cancel all credit cards/debit cards and never do anything online again.

    It is very unfortunate that this happened, the truth is that there are bad people in this world that make a living doing this stuff everyday, this is not Target’s fault.

    If you want to participate in this Digital age, it would be a very wise idea IF you have a credit/debit card to make sure that it is with a company that watches this stuff and offers fraud protection. Again this stuff happens everyday, protect yourself!

  25. Cynthia P. Scott

    I would like information on the credit card protection. I shopped the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday.

  26. M.E. Stephens

    The scary fact is that criminals are well aware that most people monitor for 1 year. It is @ the three year mark that they start using the information against you. Been there, done that and am not very happy to have to deal with the long term problems. Also, we started receiving weird text the last few days and have come to find out they also obtained our cell numbers since I get mobile coupons sent to my cell…THANKS TARGET!

    • I love shoes

      I was thinking the same thing also. If someone has access to your information, they will wait until everyone’s focus is on something else. My current position in the public school system influenced my decision to subscribe to LifeLock. Your personal information is only valued by you. I am amazed of the type of personal information that can be viewed and printed in reference to students and staff. Target’s security breach is a wake up call. As I read the comments, I noticed that some people are deciding to use cash. Department stores are not the only place for a security breach. Many medical facilities are going paperless. In their system a copy of your state identification and all your personal information is scanned into their database. I’m pretty sure most local medical facilities do not have the security measures Target assumed they had. My suggestion is to have a security measure in place for good. Target will provide the bare minimum. I’ve learned all credit monitoring services are not the same. Some only monitor one credit reporting agency, some monitor all three. I’m very satisfied with LifeLock. A few months ago I was in Staples completing a new cell phone agreement. As soon as I entered my ss# in the key pad to authorize a credit check, LifeLock contacted me.

  27. Debbie

    I wonder if Target will go bankrupt after all the dust settles. I’m not aware of all the details on this breach but its true that we are all always vulnerable. More reasons to use cash

    • Rebecca

      Seriously? You think target would go bankrupt because of this! Really now.

      I know this hasn’t changed my opinion of target at all. This could happen anytime to anyone.

    • tilla ham

      uh no, target will not go bankrupt they are the number 3 retailer in the entire world

    • Maureen

      Let’s see. Apparently 1/5 of the US population trusts Target enough to give them their information and shop there. I doubt Target is going anywhere anytime soon.

    • Christen Z

      Lmao. Target not going to go bankrupt. Puh-leeze

  28. Jess

    Love ya Collin!!
    Does anyone else feel like Target is not taking fully accountability? Is it the red card that has been affected?? NO real answers. Yes, I can use cash but who the heck does that these days?? I shop at gas stations, grocery stores and yes WALMART weekly and have never felt so insecure and terribly frustrated by the lack of help and the useless information they have given. I opened that red card during those dates and honestly still feel insecure about Target’s operations in this matter. Where the heck do we sign up for credit monitoring? Click on the above click here and its another BS page of uselessness. =/

    • CW

      I so agree Jess!

    • tilla ham

      it says the information will come available for credit monitoring in the coming days

    • Rae

      For goodness sake there was no way for the company to know this was going to happen they are going leaps and bounds further than a lot of people expected them to. You should NEVER feel so secure in using plastic to pay for things at any place, that’s not to say you should be paranoid either. Monitoring your credit and bank accounts regularly on your own is a must. Paying with cash is a pain but there are other options now too like prepaid gift credit cards which are not linked to any of your info or reloadable prepaid cards that are linked to some of your personal (address, email, and phone) information. They are still investigating the matter and I personally would rather they had as much info as possible before they released it to the public. They let everyone know there was a problem as soon as they knew and they just updated that it was worse than initially thought and they gave info on how they are going to help their customers. I would never really expect Target to take full responsibility as it’s NOT their fault.

      • Tilla Ham

        I completely agree Rae..and gift cards actually offer a lot of bonus’s. I buy hundreds of dollars in gift cards every payday at fred meyer, I always have $1.00 off a gallon at shell which saves me 21 dollars a tank in my vehicle. I buy gas gift cards, target gift cards, restaurant gift cards, petsmart for our lizard supplies, whatever I am going to spend, I try to get gift cards for the amount before I go. Though I still love my credit cards too:)

        • Mira

          Rae, but you’ve misinterpreted the information today. Target said the information was stored separately from the 40 million credit and debit card accounts that the company had previously said were affected. This is information Target would only say has been collected over a period of time. You can’t say that it’s NOT Target’s fault until they reveal the details how the hackers were able to steal data on 1 out of every 3 adults in America. Did the store’s security team lack oversight? Were employees involved? Were employees careless guarding information that would compromise security??? Certainly, Target doesn’t want this to happen to its customers, but until they are more transparent its very careless to give them a free pass…

          • Rae

            I have no idea how Target does their web and data coding but hackers break through things just as soon as new hack preventions are in place. My husband codes a small website and the “ask a question” email thing was getting spammed even with the captcha code so he tried something new that was supposed to work to ward off spambots. It worked for a day. I really dont think a company should be blamed for a crime they did not commit. I doubt they would ignore a hack and just let it go intentionally. An individual employee or group may have but they haven given any info into that part of the investigation. Forgive the odd comparison but the movie Office Space would be an example. A company can not control the employees minds nor read them.
            It sucks that it happened and there are a lot affected by this including myself. I dont understand what else anyone would want them to do! They have apologized, investigated and offered help. What more is needed? More information has been promised we’ll have wait and get answers.

          • Jess

            I totally agree Mira. 70 million customers.

  29. cpefley

    My MIL had her account cleaned out after using her debit card at Target during that time. I go to Target almost daily and haven’t had anything happen. She went once. I feel bad for her. She’ll be glad to hear this though. Thanks for sharing!

  30. DrKelly

    I have a Target debit card (not credit) and have been watching my bank account. So far, nothing. I would think that bc my Target debit can only be used at Target, my chances of getting hit are pretty slim. Years ago, when my Target store credit card was automatically turned into a Visa or MasterCard, I closed it immediately. Glad I did! This has turned into a nightmare for so many people.

  31. Adri mom

    Dumb question.. I have a target red card credit card (only Target not Visa) when I get my statement it has only amount and location. Am I able to find out the items that were purchased to confirm that I was the one purchasing? I spent a lot before Christmas but don’t want to accidentally pay for someone else.

    • Rebecca

      Nope, there’s no way the credit card company can know what was purchased. If the location sounds correct I’m sure you are in the clear.

  32. Jennifer

    Why punish Target ? These hackers attack everybody. It could happen to any business. You should be angry that federal and local governments haven’t passed stricter punishment for these crimes. When they start spending some hard time in prison, they’ll think twice.

    • Tilla Ham

      and that they won’t waste a penny trying to find and prosecute the people that did it

  33. jiya

    I know it’s a dumb question but were the people who used other credit or debit card in the target for their purchases during that period effected by this breach?

    • carmen

      Pretty sure the answer is yes. I didn’t use a credit card at Target, but when I called my credit card company (Chase), there was a pre-recorded message about the Target breach.
      It’s starting to sound like the only Target customers who are exempt are the ones who use just cash and gift cards.

      • jiya

        Thanks!! Now I have to pay attentions to all details.

  34. Gina

    I haven’t been to target since August!

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