Senators criticize Target for breach

Minneapolis – Senators John D. Rockefeller (D. - W.V.) and Richard Blumenthal (D. – Conn.) publicly criticized Target’s handling of its 2013 data breach during testimony by Target CFO John J. Mulligan in front of the Senate Commerce Committee, which Rockefeller chairs. The senators said that Target’s management did not pay attention to signals from its security software and that it is time for the retail industry to make changes.



Mulligan said Target supports uniform standards to govern responses to data breaches and said his company is enhancing user authentication for its computer systems, as well as placing more restrictions on access to its network.



“We know this has shaken (Target customers’) confidence, and we intend to earn it back,” said Mulligan. “Like you, we are asking hard questions about whether we could have taken different actions before the breach was discovered that would have resulted in different outcomes.”