Target Security Breach Case Study: Hackers Hit the Jackpot at the Expense of Customers

• In Event: Forensic and Investigative Accounting

Abstract

Abstract

For most people, the word cybercrime invokes getting individuals’ personal information through Internet hacking. For this reason, many people are wary about making online purchases, concerned about the security of their personal data and the rise in identity theft. However, the recent breach of security at Target, when customers made in store Christmas purchases, indicates the pervasiveness of this terrible crime. In late December 2013, Target announced that hackers, through point of sale terminals in stores, had successfully stolen data for up to 40 million credit and debit cardholders. Target later revised the estimate to 110 million cardholders, citing that the breach included encrypted pin information as well as purchases made more than a decade ago.
This case analyzes the Target security breach and proposes ways that the attack could have been prevented or at least detected more quickly by Target management, internal and external auditors.

Authors

• Margaret O'Reilly-Allen, Rider University

• Dorothy Ann McMullen, Rider University

• Maria H Sanchez, Rider University