You would think if a company went to the trouble and money to install a security procedure it would be followed, but apparently, that was not the case with Target. The giant retailer got hacked last fall, during the kick-off to the holiday season, and data for40 million customer credit cards were stolen. But it didn’t have to happen.
Months earlier, Target installed a $1.6 million malware detection tool and set up a system where its security team would be alerted at the sign of something suspicious. Apparently the alerts went out, but they were ignored, according to a very good article on Businessweek about how the hack went down.
Target has spent more than $60 million responding to the hack attack. Also,the company is facing more than 90 lawsuits from customers and banks. Ultimately, the cost could be in the “billions” for the nation’s second largest retailer.
