Target

Target said Tuesday that it will stop offering health insurance to its part-time employees because new online health exchanges offer workers an opportunity to buy coverage. The Minneapolis-based retailer will give each worker $500 to help buy health insurance, and has arranged for one-on-one consultations with benefits manager Towers Watson to help with the transition. The retailer announced the decision through its online site, "A Bullseye View: Behind the Scenes at Target," in a Q&A with Jodee Kozlak, Target's executive vice president of human resources.

Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel is calling on retailers and banks to adopt chip-based credit card technology to better protect shoppers. But the debate was different a decade ago, when the executive was on the other side of the issue as Target pulled the plug on a $40 million, three-year program that did just that. Chip-based credit cards, in which a smart chip in the card works with special readers installed at stores, are widely used in Europe and Canada, making it more difficult for thieves to profit from the sort of massive data breach that hit Target over the holidays. 

Target's data breach, which has left tens of millions of payment cards compromised, was carried out using off-the-shelf malware authored by a 17-year-old Russian, according to security firm IntelCrawler. Officials believe that the Target breach was just one of several attacks carried out over the holiday period. Neiman Marcus Group says that it has also been hacked, and a report authored by government agencies and security firm iSight Partners suggests that several other firms could have been hit.

Target said Monday it will invest $5 million in a multiyear campaign to educate the public on the dangers of scams, after the company disclosed that up to 110 million people may have been affected by a data breach at the retailer's U.S. stores. The company, under pressure from various quarters including some state attorneys general, has also unveiled the details of a free credit monitoring and identity theft protection for one year for all Target customers who have shopped in its U.S. stores.

The massive security breach that hit Target over the holidays may be only the beginning for the retail industry. Attempts to hack into retailers’ computer networks and steal credit card data and other customer information are likely to surge this year, cyber security experts say in the wake of the attacks on Target and luxury department store chain Neiman Marcus. Target reported Friday that cyber thieves compromised the credit card data and personal information of as many as 110 million customers. That includes phone numbers, email and home addresses, credit and debit card numbers, PINs, expiration dates.

Target and Neiman Marcus are not the only U.S. retailers whose networks were breached over the holiday shopping season, according to sources familiar with attacks on other merchants that have yet to be publicly disclosed. There were smaller breaches on at least three other well-known U.S. retailers using similar techniques as the one on Target, according to the people familiar with the attacks. These breaches have yet to come to light. Also, similar breaches may have occurred earlier last year.

Target, the second-largest U.S. discount retailer, increased its estimate of people affected by the recent data security breach to as many as 110 million and said additional information was stolen. Names, home and email addresses for as many as 70 million people were taken, the Minneapolis-based company said in a statement. That information is in addition to the credit card and debit card data of 40 million accounts that Target previously said was taken. Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said while it's likely the two groups of victims overlap, Target doesn't yet know the extent, and it's possible they are distinct.

Some shoppers who received a Target gift card this holiday season may find that redeeming it requires some work. Target confirmed Tuesday that a number of gift cards sold during the holiday period weren't fully activated, so shoppers attempting to use them would find they had no value. The snafu comes at a tough time for Target, to say the least. The company recently announced that a data breach had affected an estimated 40 million debit and credit card accounts used to make purchases at Target stores during the holiday rush.

Target has been named 2013 Mobile Retailer of the Year, the highest accolade in mobile commerce and retail. The honor tops the Mobile Commerce Awards handed out each year for outstanding work that moved the mobile commerce needle for retailers, financial services firms and marketers. Here is the list of all the 2013 honorees. While Target ended the year on a sour note thanks to a data breach

At least 2 million shoppers who used bank debit cards at Target stores during its recent data breach are facing lower limits on how much cash they can take out of teller machines and spend at stores. JPMorgan Chase said on Saturday it's notifying customers who used Chase brand debit cards at Target from Nov. 27 through Dec. 15 that they're now limited to $100 a day of cash withdrawals and $300 a day of purchases with their cards. The new limit affects roughly 2 million accounts, or 10 percent of Chase debit cards, according to a spokeswoman for Chase.