By Lauren Pollock
Target Corp. named a veteran U.S. government adviser to lead its
technology team following a massive data breach last year that
enabled one of the largest credit-card thefts in corporate
history.
Bob DeRodes, who was formerly a senior information technology
adviser for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of
Defense, and the Justice Department, will become Target's chief
information officer, effective May 5.
Target disclosed in January that hackers had stolen such
personal information as addresses and telephone numbers of up to 70
million customers. Target later said it found that at least 12
million shoppers had both their credit-card and some personal
information stolen and the overlap is likely greater.
Former Chief Information Officer Beth Jacobs resigned in early
March and was the first high-profile executive to depart after the
breach.
The big-box retailer also unveiled on Tuesday a number of
measures to strengthen security across its network. Beginning early
next year, Target said its REDcard portfolio, which includes all
Target-branded credit and debit cards, will be enabled with
MasterCard's chip-and-PIN system, a technology that enhances
security.
Meanwhile, new payment terminals will be installed in all 1,797
of its stores by September, six months ahead of schedule.
Mr. DeRodes' responsibilities will include oversight of the
Target technology team and operations, along with the ongoing data
security enhancement efforts and the development of Target's
long-term information technology and digital roadmap.
The company is continuing its search for a chief information
security officer, which will be a new position, and a chief
compliance officer.
"Establishing a clear path forward for Target following the data
breach has been my top priority," Chief Executive Gregg Steinhafel
said in a prepared statement. "I believe Target has a tremendous
opportunity to take the lessons learned from this incident and
enhance our overall approach to data security and information
technology."
Target said last month that it was re-examining why its
data-security team missed signs that hackers were inside its system
and has plugged some critical security gaps.
Target has said the hackers appeared to have first entered its
system on Nov. 12, 2013, more than a month before the discount
retail chain's investigators concluded that a breach had
occurred.
Write to Lauren Pollock at lauren.pollock@wsj.com
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