The other shoe has fallen, and it turns out Target’s assurances were pretty worthless.

The data thieves also swept up names, addresses and phone numbers in addition to the credit and debit card and PIN data.

That (besides being data for sale), also adds info for identity thieves looking to impersonate the theft victims. Face it…with name, telephone number PIN, card number and address…this just became a lot easier.

Oh yes…and that 40,000,000? There’s a new, additional group of 70,000,000 some of whom might also have had their card data stolen, have had their personal information compromised, as well.

So, Target’s earnings are down, profits are down, sales are expected to decrease by 2.5%…there are two class action law suits, and there may be prosecutions as well.

Well, data breaches are so common at this point, that it makes one wonder if a totally new method of security needs to be found.

American Express and Chase have reissued debit cards…but that just opens another window: Phishing. If I were you, I wouldn’t be opening any emails purporting to be from banks or credit card companies, since they might be looking for even more info…like your Social Security number.

Source:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/target-says-70-million-customers-were-hit-by-dec-data-breach-more-than-first-reported/2014/01/10/0ada1026-79fe-11e3-8963-b4b654bcc9b2_story.html