US retail chain Target has agreed to reach an $ 18.5 m settlement with 47 states and the District of Columbia after a 2013 data breach in which attackers stole the personal data of 41 million customers . The investigation into the incident , which was led by the attorneys general of Illinois and Connecticut , found that the attackers stole data from a third - party vendor and accessed Target 's payment server in November 2013 . The next year , the company admitted that its cybersecurity systems had alerted it to the breach , but the warnings were ignored . The settlement also required Target to improve its cybersecurity .
US retail chain Target has agreed to pay an $18.5m settlement with 47 states and the District of Columbia after a 2013 data breach in which hackers stole the payment data of 41 million customers. The investigation into the incident, which was led by the attorneys general of Illinois and Connecticut, found that the attackers stole credentials from a third-party vendor and accessed Target's gateway server in November 2013. The next year, the company admitted that its cybersecurity systems had alerted it to the breach, but the warnings were ignored. The settlement also required Target to improve its cybersecurity.