Data Security

The Home Depot has reached a contingent settlement with MasterCard over the home improvement giant's massive 2014 data breach. The deal was disclosed Nov. 30 in court filings in federal court in Atlanta. Banks have reached out to see if their members are interested in participating in the settlement.

Neiman Marcus customers had to work a little harder to cash in on its big discounts over the long Thanksgiving Day-Black Friday shopping weekend. Outages hit the retailer Friday and Saturday as it offered $50 off $200 and an extra 33 percent off. And it was apologizing big time on social media and extending its…

Cyber Monday, the online version of Black Friday, isn't immune to traffic jams of shoppers rushing to take advantage of post-Thanksgiving sales. Some of the most popular websites experienced an overload on Monday, similar to a crowd pushing its way into an already packed brick-and-mortar store. Shoppers were for a period of time unable to…

Holiday sales traditionally constitute a huge portion of retailers’ annual revenue, and there’s a lot at stake in the upcoming season. According to PwC, web sales for the overall retail sector will see a mid- to high-teens percentage increase over last year, with the leading retailers poised for a 40 percent to 50 percent increase.…

Neiman Marcus shoppers hoping to scoop up Black Friday deals were instead greeted with an error message. According to Catchpoint Systems, which monitors retailers' web performance, the luxury brand's homepage has been mostly unavailable since 8 a.m. ET. It represents the first significant outage of the day, and follows a smooth day of web performance on Thanksgiving,…

Wal-Mart’s website malfunctioned during the Thanksgiving shopping rush Thursday morning, throwing a wrench in some shoppers’ plans to avoid long lines by grabbing deals online. For the first time, the world’s biggest retailer offered most of its Black Friday “doorbusters” on its website hours before they were available inside its U.S. stores. The discounts, which were…

As consumers lead increasingly connected lives, more of their personal information is being transmitted through online channels than ever before. In an increasingly competitive ecosystem, brands are collecting consumer data dubiously to better inform marketing efforts and personalize campaigns. Unfortunately, this behavior often puts both brands and consumers at risk. Retail, specifically, is at such…

Companies spend years of time and thousands, if not millions, of dollars to create a desirable, engaging brand that consumers trust. In addition to this trust, the relationship that retailers forge with their customers creates a strong sense of loyalty that translates into many years of return visits and follow-up sales. However, there’s one thing…

Two years after its catastrophic data breach, Target has become the first major credit card issuer to convert to cards that contain a PIN. The department store — which also issues a Visa credit card that consumers can use anywhere that accepts credit cards — began notifying credit card customers this week that new cards are…

Every year the back-to-school (BTS) season means something different for incoming students. One year it might mean multiplication tables, the next it could be long division, U.S. history or organizational chemistry. However, one thing that students expect every year — regardless of the actual course work — is that their work load will increase and…