During the Christmas holiday shopping season in 2013, Target Corporation revealed that it had been the victim of a massive data breach, which compromised the identities of millions of their customers.

While Target had the misfortune of being the first to reveal the breach, it was later discovered, in a much less public way, that other retailers had been victims of the same attack.

Engage in research on this particular data breach and learn as much as you can about the circumstances, sources, and methods that were used in this attack.

When you have completed that research and the study activities related to security principles, apply those principles to what you have learned about the attack.

Write a 2-3 page paper discussing the areas of vulnerability that were exploited and what security principles failed, providing a gateway into the information assets of Target Corporation and other retailers. As part of your discussion:

Analyze the approach taken by the attackers to gain access to this data.

Analyze the failures in the security principles that made the organization vulnerable to this attack.

Explain how this attack could have been prevented without impacting user productivity or customer satisfaction.

Explain how the security principles can be applied in order to enforce policy and prevent a future breach.

Assignment Requirements

Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.

APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.

Length of paper: 2-3 pages, excluding the references page.

Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.