![]() ![]() That includes customers’ cell phones, web cookies, purchase histories, prescription and other health information.” Target has engaged in this practice for over two decades with little scrutiny.Īccording to Reuters, “The company can identify by name more than half the customers who walk into their stores and browse their website What sets Target apart from the crowd is an aggressive datamining of customer interactions. ![]() Target erected its own data warehouses in Elk River (2007), and Brooklyn Park (2014), a security operations center (or corporate command center commonly known as C3) in downtown Minneapolis, a data sciences office in Pittsburgh, a global capabilities center in Bengaluru, India, dozens of investigation centers, and a massive surveillance empire to collect troves of information on the public. ![]() Screenshot from Target’s website of a job post in the field of A.I.ĭata mining companies are able to retrieve sweeping information on the general population from several ways, including working with other big data firms, international hackers, intelligence agencies, and governments around the world.įew retailers have invested in big data like the Minneapolis corporation. It is notable that at that time Target itself was collecting much more info from their customers than shopping preferences and social media likes. Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, an advocacy group, said Target is already a leader in the data mining industry and “that makes this breach all the more frightening.” For example, last week, a local man was suspected of stealing electronics from area Targets, so shops were put on notice.”Īctivists are losing trust in America’s retail darling. Two years before the hack, the Boston Globe reported, “Security technicians compile alerts throughout the day and blast them out to stores to keep them aware of ongoing issues. This is significant considering how Target aggressively goes after shoplifters. Target’s Symantec antivirus software also detected malicious behavior around November 28, implicating the same server flagged by FireEye’s software.” ![]() Senate investigated the hack and included in their findings that “…Target’s security team neither reacted to the alarms nor allowed the FireEye software to automatically delete the malware in question. Target never provided the public an explanation for its seeming negligence. of Justice contacted them weeks later on December 12, 2013. But then, Target stood by as 40 million credit card numbers-and 70 million addresses, phone numbers, and other pieces of personal information-gushed out of its mainframes.” “The story they tell is of an alert system, installed to protect the bond between retailer and customer, that worked beautifully. Target had ample time to disrupt the hack, but instead ignored the massive breach of up to 110 million customer’s most sensitive information. Outside of Target’s flagship store in downtown Minneapolis / Photo contributed by Marjaan Sirdarīloomberg reported that Target’s computer security team was notified of the data breach by FireEye, the cyber security vendor they recently purchased services from. Instead of informing their customers immediately, Target took several days. At the time it was the second largest credit card theft in history, the AP reported. history, with millions of customers’ info compromised, including 40 million credit cards, and 70 million names, addresses, emails, and other “personal info” according to Bloomberg Businessweek. That includes customers’ cell phones, web cookies, purchase histories, prescription and other health information.“ Reuters, 2014Įight years ago this week, it was revealed that Target was at the center of the largest retail hack in U.S. “ What sets Target apart from the crowd is an aggressive datamining of customer interactions. Additionally, Target has invested heavily in mass surveillance technologies and policing, and produced unprecedented public-private partnerships with governments, making it one of the most powerful corporations in the U.S. Since Target Corporation’s massive hack in 2013, some significant information has come to light, like the fact that Target was extracting extremely sensitive information from millions of its own customers before it was compromised. ![]()
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