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"Target said 70 million customers were affected by a data breach at its stores between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, an increase from a previous estimate of 40 million customers.\nThe 70 million customers may be separate from the initial 40 million customers, the company said, though there may be some overlap.\nThe latest figure came during Target's ongoing forensic probe, which revealed that \"certain guest information \u2014 separate from the payment card data previously disclosed \u2014 was taken during the data breach,\" according to a press release from the company. Target says the theft is not a new breach. The stolen information includes names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses for those 70 million or so customers.\nA Target rep told Mashable that the affected customers will be notified via email within the next week. She said much of the compromised \u2014 including names, addresses and some phone numbers \u2014 were publicly available. However, some \u2014 like emails and wireless phone numbers \u2014 were not.\nSee also: How to Check If Hackers Stole Your Data in Massive Target Breach\nAffected customers will have zero liability for the cost of any charges incurred during the breach. \"I know that it is frustrating for our guests to learn that this information was taken and we are truly sorry they are having to endure this,\u201D Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and CEO of Target said in the release. \u201CI also want our guests to know that understanding and sharing the facts related to this incident is important to me and the entire Target team.\u201D\nThe company also announced that its fourth quarter results have been hurt by the breach. Target now expects fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.20 to $1.30, compared to the previous estimate of $1.50 to $1.60.\nEric Chiu, president and co-founder of HyTrust, a cloud computing firm, says the breach will have a \"massive\" impact on consumers for some time, perhaps even years. \"[The hackers] aren't going to go out and buy a boat with your credit card right away,\" he says. \"Maybe they'll start small or wait for a while.\" \nIt's unclear, however, how many people will be affected in the short term. Though 40 million credit cards were involved in the security breach, that doesn't necessarily mean that all 40 million cards will need to be replaced. Moreover, if thieves succeed in using the stolen credit cards, consumers will be reimbursed for those purchases. \nPerhaps a bigger threat comes from the names, e-mail addresses, physical addresses and phone numbers that have now been leaked. Cyber criminals can use such data for spear-phishing attacks, which use some personal information to trick users into clicking on a URL. Once they click, they might be enticed to enter password information or inadvertently download malware that could retrieve their personal information. \nFor that reason, the up to one-third of the U.S. population affected by the breach should be on guard for phishing emails and fraudulent charges on their credit cards for some time. \"Be very careful about what you click on,\" says Alan Kessler, CEO of cloud security firm Vormetric. \"If you see something suspicious from your friends, notify them.\"\nDavid Kennedy , founder and principal security consultant for TrustedSEC, a security firm, says consumers should cancel their credit cards as well. Kennedy says that credit card companies aren't advocating such a solution because it will cost them a few dollars each to replace a card. \"It's cheaper for them to not issue them,\" he says. A source close to one of the major credit card companies, meanwhile, says that the damage from the initial attack is likely to be well below the 40 million figure being discussed. Although that number of cards were potentially exposed to such a breach, the actual number of compromised attacks is likely to be much lower.\nRobert Siciliano, a McAfee online security expert, was also sanguine about the attack. \"I don't worry about data breaches like this,\" he says. Siciliano also says Target probably did as much as it could to prevent being hacked. \"What Target did to protect their data is pretty comprehensive,\" he says. \"They didn't leave the door wide open.\" Like everyone else, though, Target has to deal with the fact that hackers are working around the clock to break into its system, Siciliano says. \"The chance of your data being hacked is real. It's an advanced, persistent threat.\"\nKennedy says now that hackers have made a big score on the target data \u2014 he estimates the take to be in the billions \u2014 that other retailers should be on their guard. \"They smell blood in the water,\" Kennedy says. \"This is just the beginning.\"\nIndeed, Brian Krebs whose Krebs on Security blog broke the Target story, thinks another retailer is in the crosshairs. \"I think there's another one on the way,\" he says. \"And it's going to be soon.\" \nImage:\u00A0Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/01/10/target-70-million-data-breach/>