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A week ago Sunday at about 10:00 a.m., Jim Wells was on his way from church to a grandson's birthday party, when he popped into Target to pick up a gift. By the time he returned home from the party at about 3:30, there was a voicemail message on his machine from Citibank's fraud control department asking him to call because they thought there might have been fraud on his account.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased spending and withdrawal limits it imposed on 2 million customers who used debit cards at Target Corp. during the retailer's data breach.

Decoupled debit cards, which draw funds from an account at a separate issuer, are typically framed as a low-cost alternative to bank cards. But in the wake of the massive Target Corp. data breach, security may have suddenly become the product's biggest selling point.

Senator Patrick Leahy pledged to pursue cybersecurity legislation in the wake of a massive data breach at retail giant Target.

JPMorgan Chase and other banks are restricting debit card use by consumers potentially exposed to the retailer's recent data breach, according to reports.

The Armory Bitcoin Wallet, a security and payments application, has changed its technology to require less computer memory – but it's still a product for power users

For banks, the most obvious reaction to the recent compromise of 40 million cards at Target stores would be to re-issue credit and debit cards to all customers who shopped at the retailer. But this approach doesn't seem to be universal.

Target Corp. was sued by a Christmas shopper claiming she may have been exposed to identity theft from a data breach affecting 40 million debit and credit cards.

If Target can't protect itself from a data breach, how can any retailer hope to do so?

Target has confirmed the compromise of the credit and debit card data of 40 million Target shoppers and says the problem has been identified and resolved. However, thieves are selling the card account information as fast as they can on underground sites, according to security blogger and expert Brian Krebs.