Many people trace the era of major data breaches by hackers to the massive data breach at Target during the holiday shopping season of 2013. Credit card and debit card data on approximately 40 million Target customers was stolen as well as other information including email addresses of approximately 70 million Target customers.
Recently 47 states and the District of Columbia settled civil charges against Target related to the data breach with Target agreeing to pay 18.5 million dollars to each of these states and the District of Columbia. California will receive 1.4 million dollars which is the largest amount that any state will receive.  None of this money is to returned to consumers.
This settlement is very significant because it is part of an escalating trend of companies whose negligence leads to data breaches being held responsible for the harm caused to consumers.
Pursuant to the settlement, Target will implement a comprehensive security program which will include the use of whitelisting analytic software that helps prevent unauthorized malware programs from being downloaded, segmenting of credit card information from other parts of Target’s computer networks and increased use of encryption.
TIPS
This is a very positive step and, having reviewed in detail the security requirements that Target will be required to implement, I believe these provide a good guide for other companies to use to enhance their data security.
As for all of us as consumers, the best thing we can do is to refrain from using our debit cards from any use other than as an ATM card because the laws protecting us from unauthorized use of debit cards are not as strong as those protecting us from unauthorized use of credit cards.  In addition, whenever possible use your credit card as a chip card rather than as a magnetic strip card for increased security.