Sens. Rockefeller, McCaskill look into Target hacking

WASHINGTON — The recent breach of customer data at Target has attracted the attention of two U.S. senators.

In a letter dated Jan. 10, Democratic Sens. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Claire McCaskill of Missouri, respectively chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, asked Target Corp. president, chairman and CEO Gregg Steinhafel for the latest findings on how thieves managed to steal payment card data on some 40 million customers, as well as information on up to 70 million customers such as addresses, names, telephone numbers and email addresses. The breach occurred during the busiest shopping period of the year, between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15.

"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."