Target confirms customer PINs were taken in breach, maintains data is safe

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9245053/Target_confirms_customer_PINs_were_taken_in_breach_maintains_data_is_safe

By Chris Kanaracus
IDG News Service
December 27, 2013

Target has confirmed that hackers obtained customer debit card PINs 
(personal identification numbers) in the massive data breach suffered by 
the retailer during the busy holiday shopping season, but says customers 
should be safe, as the numbers were encrypted.

Some 40 million customer debit and credit cards were affected by the 
breach, but until now it wasn't clear that PINs were part of the hackers' 
massive haul.

"While we previously shared that encrypted data was obtained, this morning 
through additional forensics work we were able to confirm that strongly 
encrypted PIN data was removed," Target said in a statement on its website 
Friday. "We remain confident that PIN numbers are safe and secure. The PIN 
information was fully encrypted at the keypad, remained encrypted within 
our system, and remained encrypted when it was removed from our systems."

When Target customers use their debit cards, the PIN is secured with 
Triple DES encryption at the checkout keypads, according to the statement. 
"Target does not have access to nor does it store the encryption key 
within our system," it adds. "The PIN information is encrypted within 
Targets systems and can only be decrypted when it is received by our 
external, independent payment processor. What this means is that the 'key' 
necessary to decrypt that data has never existed within Targets system and 
could not have been taken during this incident."

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