Target's Fraud Case Analysis
In December 2013, Target learned that hackers had entered their data system, gaining access to 40 million customer’s credit and debit card information. While undergoing investigation, Target determined that certain guest information was also stolen. The information consisted of names, email/mailing and phone numbers.
There is much speculation and claim that Target could have prevented the cyber-security breach, had they not ignored the warnings. The CIA and the Pentagon has the same security system, that has a sophisticated way of catching malware attacks in real-time. “Six months before the breach occurred, Target spent $1.6 million on a anti-malware system called Fire Eye that actually caught the hack and could have automatically eradicated the malware without any human interaction, however, that feature was turned off” (Smith, 2014, p.1). Thanks to various clues and traces the hackers left behind, authorities identified a 22-year old Ukrainian as the main culprit. “It’s possible he was the ringleader of a band of hackers that performed the attack and that he hired other members of an Ocean 11-like team, who wrote the malware which the others then used to mine data from Target’s servers” (Smith, 2014, p.1). …show more content…
Target has spent the last two years attempting to win back the trust of loyal and new customers with new innovative products and sale items.
Also, the company agreed to a settlement in the amount of $10 million through a class action lawsuit. Payments were disbursed into an escrow account to each victim. In addition, they created a new position of chief information security officer, responsible for overseeing and protecting all customer
data.
There is much speculation and claim that Target could have prevented the cyber-security breach, had they not ignored the warnings. The CIA and the Pentagon has the same security system, that has a sophisticated way of catching malware attacks in real-time. “Six months before the breach occurred, Target spent $1.6 million on a anti-malware system called Fire Eye that actually caught the hack and could have automatically eradicated the malware without any human interaction, however, that feature was turned off” (Smith, 2014, p.1). Thanks to various clues and traces the hackers left behind, authorities identified a 22-year old Ukrainian as the main culprit. “It’s possible he was the ringleader of a band of hackers that performed the attack and that he hired other members of an Ocean 11-like team, who wrote the malware which the others then used to mine data from Target’s servers” (Smith, 2014, p.1). …show more content…
Target has spent the last two years attempting to win back the trust of loyal and new customers with new innovative products and sale items.
Also, the company agreed to a settlement in the amount of $10 million through a class action lawsuit. Payments were disbursed into an escrow account to each victim. In addition, they created a new position of chief information security officer, responsible for overseeing and protecting all customer
data.