Target Data Breach Affects 40 Million Cards

Those of you who did some of your holiday shopping at Target may want to check on your credit or debit card. Hackers have stolen data from around 40 million credit and debit cards that were used at Target stores.

Target became aware of the problem after credit card processors alerted them to it. The processors noticed a surge in fraudulent transactions from credit cards that had been used at Target. This particular breach began over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Purchases made online, from the Target website, were not affected. This hack involves credit and debit cards that were used in Target stores between November 27, 2013, and December 15, 2013.

Hackers stole data that includes customer names, credit and debit card numbers, card expiration dates, and the embedded code that is in the magnetic strip that is attached to the back of the cards. It seems that the hackers were not able to grab the three or four digit security codes that are on the backs of the cards that were affected by the data breach.