Target Sued For Failing to Protect Customer Financial Data.

Business owners in Illinois must pay close attention to every aspect of their company’s operations, from paying taxes to protecting customers’ financial information.  Staying on top of these details is not just important to the company’s success, it may help prevent costly litigation.

You have probably heard about the breach of security in Target Corp’s credit card data which occurred in late 2013 and allowed the theft of customer financial information.  A new lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleges that  Target, as well as its Chicago-based security auditor, Trustwave Holdings, Inc., failed to adequately protect the stolen credit card data. The two banks that filed the lawsuit, Green Bank NA and Trustmark National Bank say the theft could result in losses of more than $1 billion, including the costs of replacing customers’ cards and reimbursing fraudulent charges. The banks seek a class action lawsuit to represent their customers.

Source: Reuters, “Target, security auditor Trustwave are sued over data breach,” Jonathan Stempel, March 26, 2014.