After yesterday's rumors that hackers had swiped Target customer credit card information on Black Friday, the retail giant has officially confirmed that there was indeed a security breach—one that potentially affects up to 40 million of its customers.


But it's not just Black Friday shoppers who have cause for concern. Though the initial hack occurred on the major shopping day, anyone in the US who used a card to purchase something at Target between November 27th and December 15th may have had their information compromised—and a lot of information at that. Target notes that "the information involved in this incident included customer name, credit or debit card number, and the card's expiration date and CVV (the three-digit security code)."

Unfortunately, little else seems to be known about the hack at this point, though Target assures that both the authorities and any involved financial institutions have been alerted to the situation. Additionally, a third-party forensics firm has been roped in to both investigate this particular incident and figure out what Target needs to do to make sure something like this never happens again.


It's incredibly troubling to think that a major data breach—particularly one of such a high volume—could go on for weeks without anyone noticing. Target offers some tips on its siteabout how to protect yourself for anyone who thinks their data might have been stolen, and from what we can tell so far, there's a pretty good chance that includes you. [Target via Slashgear]