Business & Tech

Target: Data For 70M Customers Breached

The retailer had earlier said 40 million customers had sensitive data stolen, like credit card numbers, debit card PINs and email addresses.

Retail giant Target announced Friday that millions more customers had their data stolen than previously admitted.

Target now says 70 million customers — up from an earlier figure of 40 million — had credit card numbers, email addresses, expiration dates and even debit card PINs stolen.

The company's CEO apologized.

"I know that it is frustrating for our guests to learn that this information was taken and we are sorry they are having to endure this," said Gregg Steinhafel, who is also chairman and president of the nation's second-largest retailer, in a letter on the company's Web site.

The breach, first made public last month, happened between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, according to the Boston Globe.

Target is promising a year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection to customers in hopes of mitigating the public relations disaster.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from West Des Moines