U.S. senators ask Target CEO for information on data breach
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators are seeking answers from the chief executive of Target Corp about the hacking of credit and debit cards of millions of customers during the holiday shopping season.
"We ask that Target's information-security officials provide a briefing to committee staff regarding your company's investigation and latest findings," said John Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Claire McCaskill, who heads a Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection.
The Democratic senators' letter to Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, dated January 10 and released on Tuesday, followed a call on Monday from Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives for a congressional inquiry into the hacking.
The No. 3 U.S. retailer disclosed on December 19 that it was a victim of one of the biggest credit card breaches on record, which it said lasted for 19 days in the busy holiday shopping season through December 15.
The company apologized on Monday for the breach, which resulted in the theft of about 40 million credit card records and 70 million other records containing customer data such addresses and phone numbers.
"It has been three weeks since the data breach was discovered, and new information continues to come out," the senators wrote. "We expect that your security experts have had time to fully examine the cause and impact of the breach and will be able to provide the Committee with detailed information."
The Target hacking shows the need for federal legislation on commercial data practices, the senators said.
The National Association of Federal Credit Unions sent letters on Monday to congressional leaders, demanding action on data security.
Although congressional hearings would allow for an airing of grievances and could bring Target officials to Washington for questioning about how the case has been handled, they would not necessarily result in any action or in legislation.
Steinhafel told CNBC television on Monday: "We're going to get to the bottom of this. We're not going to rest until we understand what happened and how that happened."
A Target spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment.
In midday trading Target shares were near steady at $61.52 on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jim Loney)
