Hasta La Gadget!

The now infamous Target hack has been well documented. Earlier this month the retailer confirmed that its point of sale registers had been compromised by malware during and even prior to the holiday season, which resulted in personal information of more than 70 million customers being compromised. Even credit and debit card information of customers was leaked in this massive security breach. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, while testifying at a U.S. Senate hearing, confirmed that the Target hack is now being investigated by the Justice Department as well.

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Target Hack Being Investigated By Justice Department original content from Ubergizmo.

By now most of you might have heard about what happened to Target’s point-of-sale registers during the holiday season. They were infected with malware, which ended up compromising personal information of more than 70 million people. It was initially believed that the ringleader of this massive attack was based in Eastern Europe, though security firm IntelCrawler appears to have found the person who wrote the malware. Apparently it was a 17-year old Russian, having roots in St. Petersburg, who has sold more than 60 variants of the software to hackers based in Eastern Europe and other countries.

IntelCrawler is of the view that this teenager isn’t behind the attacks himself, his involvement is limited to the malware known as BlackPOS, which was found to have infected retailers such as Target and even Neiman Marcus. This programmer is “very well known” for his skill set in underground online communities for malware distribution, it is claimed. The security firm is of the view that this malware, or an iteration of it, might have affected other retailers as well, retailers who have yet to discover that they too were hacked. The security firm says that it has detected six breaches at various other retailers in the country, though it has refrained from naming them.

Target Malware Presumably Developed By A Russian Teenager original content from Ubergizmo.

By now you have probably heard about the massive Target hack. Personal as well as credit and debit card information of more than 70 million users was stolen as a result of this hack, which took place during the holiday season, a time when customer activity is usually high. Customers who were affected have already been advised to keep an eye on their bank activity and report any anomalies, but as a precautionary measure, Citigroup has announced that it is going to replace all customer debit cards that were affected by the hack.

While the financial juggernaut declined to reveal how many debit cards are being reissued, it did say that they weren’t replaced sooner because Citi wanted to minimize disruptions during the holiday shopping season. JPMorgan has already said that it will reissue new debit cards at many of its branches. It has been reported that Citi does not plan on reissuing credit cards that might have been affected by said hack. On the other hand, Target has announced that it is now offering a year’s worth of credit monitoring and identity theft protection to all affected customers, there’s a three month window to sign up for the free service, which normally costs $191.

Citi To Replace All Debit Cards Affected By Target Hack original content from Ubergizmo.

A few days back we reported that Target had been the victim of a massive security breach, one that lead to personal information of more than 40 million users being compromised. The retailer confirmed recently that the initial number doesn’t even come close to the actual number, which is now believed to be north of 70 million. That’s a lot of people who now have to be concerned about any unauthorized activity on their cards. One might wonder exactly how something of this magnitude happened? Target has revealed that the malware that caused this breach was actually installed on its point-of-sale registers.

Target does not know who is behind this, but is currently working with law enforcement agencies to find out. The retailer’s chairman and CEO Gregg Steinhafel has finally spoken out, and he says that its clear that Target is accountable and acknowledges that “we are responsible.” He promises that they’re going to make significant changes and come out of this debacle as a “better company.” Just yesterday a new report claimed that as many as three other major U.S. retailers were also hacked in a similar fashion during the holiday season, those retailers have yet to be named. Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus confirmed earlier this week that it too had been hacked, and that payment card information of its customers was most likely out in the wild now.

Target Reveals Malware Was Installed On Its PoS Registers original content from Ubergizmo.

Back in December it was reported that Target had been the victim of a massive security breach which resulted into personal information of more than 40 million customers being compromised. The retailer did acknowledge that it was attacked, but assured customers that their bank PINs were safe and sound. Last week it was reported that the number of people affected by the Target hack might be as high as 70 million. We also heard recently that Neiman Marcus was hacked as well and according to Reuters, at least three other “well-known” U.S. retailers were hacked over the holiday shopping season.

Those retailers are yet to be named, though Reuters claims to have heard from “sources familiar with the attacks.” It is not known right now what kind of information has ended up in the wild due to these attacks and exactly how many people have been affected. The sources also claim that similar attacks might have taken place earlier last year as well. Investigation is still ongoing in the Target and Neiman Marcus attacks but so far it has not been found out exactly who carried out the attacks, law enforcement sources cited in the report believe that the ring leaders might hail from Eastern Europe.

Other Major U.S. Retailers Were Also Reportedly Hacked During The Holiday Season original content from Ubergizmo.