ANCHORAGE - Things are going from bad to worse for Target. Friday the retail giant announced hackers had managed to obtain not just credit and debit card information, but the personal emails, addresses and phone numbers of millions of Target customers.
As many as 70 million people may have had their personal information stolen from its database, Target said. That’s on top of the 40 million whose credit and debit cards may be compromised.
Target said it will email customers information on how to protect themselves, and they are also offering free credit monitoring services for up to a year.
But the risk of having credit information compromised remains. Not just for Target customers, but for all retail and online shoppers as well.
Glen Klinkhart is a retired Anchorage police officer who now advises businesses on how to avoid cybercrime.
Klinkhart offered some tips for consumers. One way to keep thieves from getting it all, he said, is to carry more than one credit card.
“So for example, have a credit card for paying your online bills,” Klinkhart said. “Use a separate one for your daily purchases. That way if you have one at Kmart or another place that gets stolen or compromised, your bills still get paid.”
For debit cards, Klinkhart said it’s important to make sure your PINs aren’t too easy to guess, and that they aren’t the same for different accounts.
“Because one of the tricks is, once they steal one card, if they get into your personal information they will use that same PIN on your other accounts,” Klinkhart said.
He also advises changing PINs on a regular basis and said that can usually be done online.
Most importantly, Klinkhart said, monitor all your accounts on a regular basis, not just your credit card bill, but your bank accounts as well. That may seem like a pain for some people, he said, but it may be the only sure way to catch a thief.