Target, Inc.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. will reportedly testify about its recent massive holiday data breach in a Congressional hearing in early February 2014. According to Reuters, a Congressional commerce, manufacturing and trade subcommittee headed by Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) will investigate large data breaches and their effect on consumers.

By Lee Peterson, WD Partners

If a sacred cow exists among retail strategists today, the price-match is undoubtedly it. As the weapon of first resort, it is the most obvious defense against the rapid rise of “showrooming” and the unbridled growth of online retailing behemoths like Amazon, ruthlessly cutting into retailers’ profits.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. will invest $5 million in a multi-year campaign to educate consumers about cybersecurity and the dangers of phishing scams.

Target is investing $5 million in a coalition of cyber-security organizations to launch a marketing campaign to educate the public about phishing scams and security.

The coalition includes the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance, the National Cyber Security Alliance and Better Business Bureaus.

"Cyber-security is fast becoming one of the biggest marketplace challenges for businesses and a huge concern for their customers," Council of Better Business Bureaus president and CEO Mary Power said.

Washington, D.C. -- Two U.S. senators have written to Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel seeking "detailed information'' on the data breach that occurred during the holiday shopping season, Reuters reported.

"We ask that Target's information-security officials provide a briefing to committee staff regarding your company's investigation and latest findings,'' John Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Claire McCaskill, chair of the Commerce ubcommittee on consumer protection, wrote to Steinhafel.

Supervalu has elected Gerald Storch as chair of its board of directors. The appointment comes after Robert Miller, who has chaired the boar since March 2013, announced his resignation.

New York -- Following news that luxury giant Neiman Marcus experienced network breaches over the holiday shopping season, similar to those of Target Corp., unidentified sources told Reuters that at least three other attacks on well-known merchants could be revealed in the coming weeks.

The nightmare continued for Target on Friday as worse than expected fourth quarter same store sales prompted the company to slash its profit forecast while it made troubling new disclosures about the theft of information involving 70 million customers.