Americans worried about their credit card security heard for the first time Tuesday from executives at hacked retailers, and their message was two-fold. First, they’re sorry. And second, the attacks on computers at Target, Neiman Marcus, and many other retailers are different than any other they’ve faced. Target Chief Financial Officer [Keep reading]
Identity theft is on the rise again, according to Javelin Strategy and Research. The firm, which does an annual survey of identity theft victims, estimates that 13.1 million U.S. adults were hit by ID theft in 2013, an increase of 500,000 victims from 2012. It’s the second-highest annual total in [Keep reading]
Skeptic that I am, I am also a sucker for the Olympics. There are a 1,000 reasons to dismiss the Games as a commercial fraud, but still, in every competition, amazing stories of perseverance, love, and achievement emerge. So I’ll be watching every chance I get. This time around, there [Keep reading]
Just how much data leaks out of a person every day? Perhaps a terabyte, guessed Rapid7’s Tod Beardsley. A terabyte! Every touch of a cell phone, ever block you drive, every card you swipe – heck, even while you are asleep — firms are constructing a digital mirror image of [Keep reading]
I have plenty of thoughts about today’s Senate Judiciary hearing credit card hacking hearing, where Americans heard for the first time directly from executives at Target and Neiman Marcus. I’ll get to them in the next day or two. But this caught my eye from the testimony of Neiman Marcus Chief [Keep reading]
Executives from Target and Neiman Marcus will face a public grilling on Tuesday as they are scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I’ll be there, running back and forth between the hearing and a TV camera, where I’ll be translating the corporate-speak we’ll be hearing. Officials from Consumers [Keep reading]
You’ve had this sneaking sensation all along, haven’t you? That those security machines at airports don’t really do any good? That someone might be looking at naked X-rays of you and laughing? That a whole lot of money has been wasted on technology that doesn’t work, and that the best [Keep reading]
With all the stories of major retailers losing millions of credit card account numbers, you are probably scouring your monthly bills looking for fraudulent charges like a $700 plane ticket or $600 television you didn’t buy. That might be a big mistake. One common way credit card hackers steal commit [Keep reading]
Add Michaels craft store to the list of retailers who’ve been shamed into admitting that hackers have possibly stolen credit card information from their systems. Here’s a pro tip: hiding this important information from consumers until a journalist finds out about it and tells everyone is bad for business. And [Keep reading]
(So happy to be back on CNBC and NBCNews.com again. I’m scheduled to be on television Friday night — NBC Nightly with Brian Williams — to discuss this story). A toxic combination of digital leashes, the hypnotic effects of technology, economic anxiety, and caffeine is encouraging workers to push [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan