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Martin Moylan
St. Paul, Minn.

Target CEO: Right call to disclose data theft

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Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel says he believes the retailer made the right call when it disclosed the theft of customer information.

On a corporate website and Twitter, Steinhafel said the company showed its commitment to operating with "full transparency" last month when Target said cyberthieves had stolen names, addresses and other personal information of up to 70 million customers.

Steinhafel said the 70 million figure overstated the likely damage since the data included duplicative, old, or invalid records. He said the company disclosed the information knowing that some news outlets would wrongly add that to the 40 million payment cards compromised.

"These were serious risks for how we might be seen by the public. But slice the numbers any way you wish, any number was unacceptable," Steinhafel said.

Steinhafel also reiterated Target's desire to accelerate adoption of so-called smart cards that are harder to compromise.

"We know it's the right technology. We think it's good for the consumer," Steinhafel said. "And we want to really take a leadership role in advancing that so we can get that implemented in 2015."

Target plans to deploy smart card readers in all of its stores this year.