For immediate release                                                                                         MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

Hartford, January 13 – Attorney General George Jepsen and state Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein today urged all Connecticut residents who shop at Target stores to take advantage of one year of free credit monitoring being offered by the retail company in the wake of the massive data breach announced last month.

“I would strongly encourage all Target customers to take advantage of this offer,” said Attorney General Jepsen. “Additionally, consumers who have not done so already should take the proactive steps of changing their PIN numbers, if possible, and changing all passwords, and should be vigilant when it comes to unsolicited emails and phone calls seeking personal information. I will continue to work on behalf of Connecticut consumers to ensure that they receive all the protections they deserve in the wake of this nationwide breach.”

“In addressing what may be remembered as one of the broadest data breaches this country has so far experienced – affecting up to 110 million shoppers – there’s no doubt that Target should be responsible and offer free security for everyone whose private financial information was stolen,” Commissioner Rubenstein said.  “This has been a costly incident for all involved, with the only silver lining being the possibly heightened awareness of security gaps, insights into hacker methods, and improvements in security protocols that may result. Business must do a better job at data security.”

Target is offering one year of free credit monitoring not only to those customers who had information compromised in the data breach but to all Target customers. Beginning today, consumers can register for free credit monitoring at creditmonitoring.target.com. Target’s website provides answers to frequently asked questions concerning the credit monitoring at https://corporate.target.com/about/payment-card-issue/credit-monitoring-FAQ.aspx.

The free credit monitoring will be offered through Experian’s ProtectMyID, and the service provides a copy of a credit report, daily credit monitoring, identity theft insurance (except where prohibited by law) and access to personalized assistance from a fraud resolution agent.

Target has provided the following information for consumers looking to take advantage of this program:

• Consumers who shopped in U.S. stores may request an activation code by entering their name and email address at creditmonitoring.target.com before April 23, 2014.
• Consumers will then receive an email from Target within one to five days that will include the unique activation code and instructions on how to register the code with ProtectMyID.
• Consumers will have until April 30, 2014, to register their code with ProtectMyID.
• Emails collected during the process of creating activation codes will only be used for the purpose of sending an activation code to enroll in free credit monitoring.
• Consumers with questions are encouraged to visit target.com/databreach or to contact Target directly at 866-852-8680.

Assistant Attorneys General Michele Lucan and Lorrie Adeyemi, members of the Attorney General’s Privacy Task Force, and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Fitzsimmons, head of the Task Force, are assisting the Attorney General with this matter.

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Media Contacts:

Department of Consumer Protection:   
Claudette Carveth         
claudette.carveth@ct.gov   
860-713-6022 (office)

Office of the Attorney General:           
Jaclyn Falkowski         
jaclyn.falkowski@ct.gov      
860-808-5324 (office)  
860-655-3903 (cell)