On Friday, a Pennsylvania refrigerator, heating and air conditioning vendor was linked to the November 13, 2013 cyber-attack on Target that resulted in the access of 40 million customer information and an estimated $420 million dollars in damages to the super store giant.
According to The Associate4d Press, Fazio Mechanical Services Inc. released a statement by President Ross Fazio after an investigative appearance by the Secret Service, commenting "Like Target, we are a victim of a sophisticated cyber-attack operation." U.S. Secret Service spokeswoman Brian Leary corroborated the investigation but refused to comment.
KrebsOnSecurity reports that while the explanation behind the HVAC subcontractor’s network access remains elusive, they indicated that there were several data drop points that the secure financial information was sent to, including Russia and Brazil allegedly. Fazio Mechanical has also done with work with notable retailers including Whole Food’s, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Trader Joe’s.
Target has around 1,800 stores across the county. The frenzy affected some 70 million customers, who have been assured repeatedly that are not expected to compensate for the huge losses.
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