cards, staffing call centers, forensic and data-security units, and lawyers for public inquiries and private lawsuits. . . .
The CEO, who likes to say “retail is detail,” is known internally for paying surprise visits to Target stores—there are about 1,800 in the U.S. that drew about 32 million customers a week before the crisis. Store managers say they warn each other to be alert for a man snooping around the aisles, frequently snacking from a box of animal crackers.
Recently, Mr. Steinhafel says, he stopped a manager who was reading email on her cellphone as she passed through Target’s downtown Minneapolis headquarters. “Please be in the present,” he recalls telling her.
From November 27, the day before Thanksgiving, through December 18, Target executives say, shoppers’ payment-card data was captured through “malware” installed in Target’s computer network. The hackers had entered the network through a vendor.
The breach got wide publicity. Shoppers clogged Target phone lines and stores. Some sent tweets and emails that they would never again shop at Target. On the last weekend before Christmas, the big crowds at Target stores had dwindled.