Millions Of Credit Cards Affected By Data Breach At Target

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with Target customers targeted.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: This is the story of a recent cyberattack on Target customers around the country, which is now under investigation by the giant retailer. Over 1,500 stores may have been compromised, and at least 1 million customers. It's being described as one of the largest retail breaches to date. The credit card data was apparently stolen with software installed on the machines customers use to swipe their cards.

Brian Krebs broke this story. He runs an industry blog called Krebs on Security. His sources say the scam seems to have started around Black Friday, and continued up until this past weekend. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.