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40M cards compromised at Target: Coming to your ATM soon?

December 19, 2013

Target Corp. has released a statement acknowledging a massive card data breach between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, and saying that compromised data could include customer name, card number, expiration date and CCV number. ATM industry members can heave at least a small sigh of relief as apparently no PINs were involved.

Security blog Krebs on Security first reported the possibility of a breach on Dec. 13, when details were still murky and the breach was believed to have ended on Dec. 6. But Target's statement this morning both confirms the theft and widens the window. As many as 40 million credit and debit accounts might be compromised.

From the Krebs blog:

It's not clear how many cards thieves may have stolen in the breach. But the sources I spoke with from two major card issuers said they have so far been notified by one of the credit card associations regarding more than one million of cards total from both issuers that were thought to have been compromised in the breach. A third source at a data breach investigation firm said it appears that "when all is said and done, this one will put its mark up there with some of the largest retail breaches to date."

ATM Marketplace will post additional details as they emerge.

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