$18.5M Settlement In Target Data Breach

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York's attorney general is announcing that 47 states and the District of Columbia have reached an $18.5 million settlement with Target Corp. to resolve the states' probe into the discounter's massive pre-Christmas data breach in 2013.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman's office says the agreement announced Tuesday is the largest multistate data breach settlement to date.

Target's breach, which occurred between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15 of 2013, affected more than 41 million customer payment card accounts and exposed contact information for more than 60 million customers. The breach forced Target to overhaul its security system and the company offered free credit reports for potentially affected shoppers.

The settlement requires Target to maintain appropriate encryption policies and take other security steps.

Target