Target settles with Visa over data breach

Hackers stole credit- and debit-card data, as well as personal information, for as many as 110 million Target customers during the 2013 holiday shopping season.

Target previously reached an agreement with MasterCard Inc.to pay banks $19-million for costs they incurred in the data breach.

“Visa has worked to help Target reach a resolution for the expenses incurred by financial institutions as [a] result of the 2013 compromise”, Visa said in a statement.

The exact amount of fraud that resulted from the Target breach still isn’t known.

The agreement comes three months after a proposed $19 million settlement between Target and Mastercard Inc fell through as not enough banks accepted the deal. That deal, reached in April, required the approval of 90% of banks representing cardholder accounts that were affected by the breach.

People familiar with the settlement said that the amount being paid by Target includes the maximum amount that is laid out in Visa’s regulations.

The deal with Visa does not require a certain support rate, according to the reports.

Since the breach, Target has reported $252 million in expenses tied to it, including money that was set aside to settle claims by credit card issuers. “This agreement attempts to put this event behind us, and increase the industry’s focus on protecting against future compromises with new technologies”.