The Target Corporation, also referred to as Target, is the second-largest discount store retailer in the United States. In December 2013, over 40 million credit cards were stolen from nearly 2000 Target stores by hackers accessing data on point of sale (POS) systems. A POS is a place in the retail store where customers make payment for goods bought and in return get an invoice or receipt. The POS system is the system or device that is used for completing the transaction. It could be hardware or software or both that manages a transaction like credit card processing. In this activity, you need to do a thorough study of the Target data breach and answer the following questions:
List the information that was stolen or compromised in the breach. How did it affect the security of Target? How did it affect the security of Target’s customers?
Identify and list the specific controls that could have prevented the breach.
Why do you think hackers target the retail sector?
