Report: Target had early notice of breach

Minneapolis – Target Corp. reportedly had early notice of the holiday data breach that exposed the personal and financial information of millions of customers but did not act upon it. According to Bloomberg, a $1.6 million security application called FireEye notified Target of a possible intrusion in to its network, but the retailer failed to respond.



FireEye, an application also used by the CIA and Pentagon, notified a remote team of security specialists Target had assembled in Bangalore, India, about suspicious network activity on Saturday, Nov. 30. The India-based specialists promptly notified personnel in Target’s Minneapolis headquarters.



Bloomberg quotes anonymous sources at Target as saying the FireEye application successfully detected the uploading of malware into Target’s system, but nothing was done to investigate or respond. In an emailed statement, Target executives told Bloomberg that the retailer is still actively investigating the breach and taking steps to prevent future breaches, and will not comment until all final analysis is complete.