Monday, December 23, 2013

The End Of Target?

From the Chicago Tribune: Target Corp's general counsel, Timothy Baer, spoke with top state prosecutors on Monday to address their concerns about a massive data breach, as consumer lawsuits piled up against the retailer and two U.S. senators called for a federal probe.
Attorneys general from several states including Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York have asked the company to provide more information about the cyber attack, in which hackers stole data from as many as 40 million credit and debit cards of shoppers who visited Target stores during the first three weeks of the holiday shopping season.
Target did not specify which state officials Baer spoke with to "bring them up to date" on the data breach, the second-largest in U.S. retail history. The No. 3 U.S. retailer said the call took place earlier on Monday but gave few details on the discussion.
The company faces at least 15 lawsuits seeking class action status as a result of the cyber attack. The suits were filed by people who claim their information was stolen and they allege that Target either failed to properly secure the customer data, did not promptly notify customers of the breach or both.
Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said it was company policy not to comment on litigation.
  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-target-breach-legal-20131223,0,4735919.story
Between the lawsuits and State investigations, I am sure that the following will happen:
1.  Some lawyers, on both sides, will become very rich from the settlements.
2.  The plaintiffs in the lawsuits will receive less than $1000 in the settlement.
3.  The States that file suit will take millions of dollars more from Target.
4.  Target may file bankruptcy because of the lost money and stores may close and people laid off.

No comments:

Post a Comment