Target e-mail addresses-stolen, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Target Corp. has joined the list of dealers and bankers, whose e-mail addresses were stolen by hackers over the weekend.

The seller sent messages to customers Monday afternoon and evening, warning of a security breach on the Epsilon marketing company in Irving, Texas, it works with some of the greatest names of the people in the banking and retail.

Best Buy Co., Inc. and U.S. Bancorp were also among the victims of the attack.

"The objective of data protection takes very seriously and will continue to ensure that all appropriate measures to protect personal data," he said in a statement Tuesday, the target.

Analysts say that the customer lists could allow hackers to craft a credible, but false e-mails, known as "phishing" attacks, "the aim of defrauding consumers or taking control of their computer.

"Now the criminals know more about you, and you can focus better," said Avivah Litan, a computer security analyst research firm Gartner. She ranked the breach of security such as the level of disaster 7.5 to 8, on a scale where 10 is the worst, "because of" what could turn into a.

Infringement, one of the largest in history, it reveals the risk of outsourcing customer communication outside the company-long interest in experts, privacy. Experts predict, it could lead to major changes in the way of storing and sharing personal information.

The stolen emails to customers of large banks, including capital one Financial Corp., Ameriprise Financial Inc., Barclays Bank, US Bancorp, Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase and co., and customers of the large retailers such as Best Buy, target, Walgreen Co., and Kroger Co.

Also stolen were the e-mail addresses of students through the College Board, a not for profit organisation that runs, saturation and customers of the Walt Disney Travel Co., a subsidiary of Disney destinations.

The first threat for the consumers is likely to be flooded with unwanted spam messages. Also could be a bum to give away passwords and user names, which provide access to bank accounts, allows hackers to know more about their personal life.

The direct theft of bank accounts unlikely because in most cases, a hacker did not have enough information to perform transactions. But consumers would be tricked into visiting phony Web sites that download malicious software to PC consumers. Can record key or in some cases, to take on a computer without the knowledge of consumers.

Consumers cannot prevent an authentic-looking but fake e-mails in your Inbox, but deleting emails that ask for personal information or provide a link on a Web page, can protect. "Be more skeptical than to believe," he warned, Jason Miller, Manager of the safety of the data and information and computer security company Shavlik Technologies New Brighton.

The company, such as Epsilon store a large amount of personal information from some of the largest companies in the world, which is a very attractive target for hackers. When their security systems are breached, the influence is growing, because the data of the client exceeds the number of companies and sectors, privacy experts say. Hackers can then combine this information together to create a more complete profile of the man.

"These companies represent a large, concentrated instead of attack," said George Peabody, Director of emerging technologies in the Mercator Advisory Group in Maynard, mass.

Often, hackers wait years before using the stolen information, knowing that people will not be retained in breach of the initial data, said Paul Stephens, Director of the defense and protection of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse on privacy in San Diego. "There is a real tendency to forget these things, but the information that is stolen is there forever."

However, the breach of the data so easily taken care of Epsilon, experts predict. Millions of people have already received an e-mail warning from banks and retailers, though avoid replies to e-mails that request personal information.

Best buy to promote its affected customers "be very careful" when opening links or attachments in e-mails from unknown senders, while J.P. Morgan recommended that customers use their e-mail address as a login ID and password for access to the information of the bank account. Bank of Minneapolis to suspend all marketing and e-mail programs through Epsilon for an unlimited period, said a spokesman for the US Bancorp.

Epsilon, a subsidiary of Alliance Data Systems Corp., of Plano, Texas, describes itself as "the world's largest permission e-mail marketing service provider." The company sends e-mails 40 billion a year and boasts 2 200 clients.

Epsilon refused to publish all the names of the companies affected by the breach of security or the number of people with disabilities. Spokesman also refused to discuss the causes of the disturbance.

Of the violation is so large that it could have a lasting impact on consumer confidence in the e-mail notification. Chris Douglas, head of the project in the Park in spring, in Stillwater, said, e-mail notification of security breaches has received from the three companies: US Bancorp, Ameriprise, and Best Buy.

Douglas said he had already shifted their membership in the Best Buy Reward Zone loyalty program, because they believe that the company violated a promise not to share your personal information. "I know it's the proverbial barn door closing, after he goes on a horse," he said. "But it seems that one of the few things within my control."

Richard Trident, Executive Director of Bank technologies, consultancy firms in San Carlos, predicts that the breach will reduce the response rate for e-mail solicitations by 30 to 50% in the next year. "We just turned into marketing the highway in a dirt road with holes," said Crone. "It will slow down your e-mail marketing efforts significantly."

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