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The leak of documents from the surveillance software and "ethical hacking" firm Hacking Team revealed that some foreign banks were clients. Had any U.S. banks been on the list, the last two weeks would have been interesting.
July 16 -
MasterCard issuers had to cast at least 90% of their votes in favor of the Target settlement by May 20, and not enough did, the companies said. Banks and credit unions will fight for a better deal.
May 22 -
A group of small banks and credit unions could not persuade a judge to block the settlement Target and MasterCard reached last month that would reimburse banks on the card network $19 million for losses related to the retailer's breach.
May 11 -
Community banks and credit unions have filed class actions against Home Depot and Target, using untested legal arguments to claim the retailers should pay banks expenses tied to recent data breaches. There is very little legal precedent here, and hundreds of millions of dollars could hinge on the court rulings in these cases.
September 29 -
No amount of diligence on the part of financial institutions will help prevent future data breaches until retailers are subject to the same national data security standards that apply to banks and credit unions
December 19 -
Three key crisis response concepts can help bank leadership teams avoid the fate of Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, who resigned this week in the aftermath of the company's holiday season cyberattack.
May 9
Target Corp. reached a settlement with Visa Inc. over a hacker attack that struck the chain during the 2013 holiday season and exposed millions of customers' personal information.
The retailer will pay as much as $67 million to banks that issue Visa cards, according to a person briefed on the matter, who asked not to be identified because the amount hasn't been disclosed publicly. The agreement will cover expenses that banks incurred in the data breach, including the cost of reissuing cards and any fraud that resulted from the incident.
"Target is pleased that we have reached a settlement agreement with Visa related to the data breach," the Minneapolis-based retailer said in a statement. The Wall Street Journal reported the settlement earlier Tuesday.
Hackers stole credit- and debit-card data, as well as personal information, for as many as 110 million Target customers during the 2013 holiday shopping season. The retailer also agreed to pay $10 million to customers whose personal information may have been taken.
Target previously reached an agreement with MasterCard Inc. to pay banks $19 million for costs they incurred in the data breach. But that pact failed to garner sufficient support from banks, Target said in May.
Target shares rose 0.8 percent to $79.62 as of 12:46 p.m. in New York trading, while Visa declined 0.3 percent to $74.19.
The costs of the Visa settlement are already reflected in the retailer's previously reported financial results, Target said on Tuesday. The hacker attack contributed to the ouster last year of Chief Executive Officer Gregg Steinhafel, who said he held himself personally responsible for the breach. Still, Target is one of many chains to fall victim to hackers in recent years. Neiman Marcus Group Ltd., Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. and other retailers also have suffered incursions.
Visa, the world's biggest payments network, said in a statement that the agreement "attempts to put this event behind us, and increase the industry's focus on protecting against future compromises with new technologies."
