5 ms·

This shows where their priorities lie. This is also the same company that got hacked and lost credit card data of customers through their HVAC system. Bet no

by kemiller2002 9mo ago

This shows where their priorities lie. This is also the same company that got hacked and lost credit card data of customers through their HVAC system. Bet nothing has really changed there as far as cyber security goes.

tencentshill 9mo ago
At lease they have a vulnerability disclosure program. https://security.target.com/vdp/ https://security.target.com/vdp/
kotaKat 9mo ago
A lot has changed on the inside at Target since then. They’ve rolled the whole stack in house (even switching to Linux), locked down, and hardened a lot both inside and out. I was amused finding out that cashiers basically no longer sign onto the registers using the register. They sign onto a myDevice (a Zebra handheld) elsewhere and keep it with them, then use that to scan a rotating PDF417 on screen on the register to complete signon as a 2FA device. That’s on top of a lot of built in POS restrictions now to limit where certain transactions (like gift card functions) are completable to avoid people trying to swipe devices or signons from outer area unattended registers.
- bombcar 9mo ago
  That signin via device is hilarious because it didn't work the last time I was there; the lady had to find someone else who could sign in for her because her device wasn't connecting or something.
- eichin 9mo ago
  I'm sure you meant the code was changing periodically, but now I'm expecting some pseudo-cyberpunk "rapidly spinning barcode" authenticator to show up in a movie...
lotsofpulp 9mo ago
Every retail business has a “priority” of preventing theft. When profit margins are 2%, it doesn’t take much theft to put the business in the red.
- Zigurd 9mo ago
  Turnover dominates margins as a factor in physical retail profitability.
- vlovich123 9mo ago
  a) that puts an upper cap on how much it makes sense to spend on theft prevention (notably target does not indicate how much money it spends on such activities) B) such activities can reduce revenues in the first place. For example I don’t even bother going to retailers because they have so many obstacles with locked cabinets that online shopping is just a smoother experience.
- hnlmorg 9mo ago
  The markup is around 30% or higher on each item (or at least that was the case back when I last studied business) I get there are overheads but that’s spread across all products and supermarkets have a lot of products. So you’d still have to have a lot of theft in a supermarket before you get close to a dent in those 2% margins. Edit: as an aside, this is also why high value items such as alcohol are usually at the back of the store. It’s easier to identify and catch someone stealing if they’ve attempted to conceal a product for the entirely length of the shop.
  - mikkupikku 9mo ago
    [flagged]
    - hnlmorg 9mo ago
      That’s not even remotely what I was saying. > Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ——— My point is that shop lifting is small scale compared to legal sales. So for a supermarket to make a loss from shoplifting, they’d either have to see a significant jump in items stolen. This doesn’t mean that I condone theft; it just means I’ve ran the operating costs and margins for running retail stores and thought I’d share that insight.

tencentshill 9mo ago

At lease they have a vulnerability disclosure program. https://security.target.com/vdp/ https://security.target.com/vdp/

kotaKat 9mo ago

A lot has changed on the inside at Target since then. They’ve rolled the whole stack in house (even switching to Linux), locked down, and hardened a lot both inside and out. I was amused finding out that cashiers basically no longer sign onto the registers using the register. They sign onto a myDevice (a Zebra handheld) elsewhere and keep it with them, then use that to scan a rotating PDF417 on screen on the register to complete signon as a 2FA device. That’s on top of a lot of built in POS restrictions now to limit where certain transactions (like gift card functions) are completable to avoid people trying to swipe devices or signons from outer area unattended registers.

bombcar 9mo ago
That signin via device is hilarious because it didn't work the last time I was there; the lady had to find someone else who could sign in for her because her device wasn't connecting or something.
eichin 9mo ago
I'm sure you meant the code was changing periodically, but now I'm expecting some pseudo-cyberpunk "rapidly spinning barcode" authenticator to show up in a movie...

lotsofpulp 9mo ago

Every retail business has a “priority” of preventing theft. When profit margins are 2%, it doesn’t take much theft to put the business in the red.

Zigurd 9mo ago
Turnover dominates margins as a factor in physical retail profitability.
vlovich123 9mo ago
a) that puts an upper cap on how much it makes sense to spend on theft prevention (notably target does not indicate how much money it spends on such activities) B) such activities can reduce revenues in the first place. For example I don’t even bother going to retailers because they have so many obstacles with locked cabinets that online shopping is just a smoother experience.
hnlmorg 9mo ago
The markup is around 30% or higher on each item (or at least that was the case back when I last studied business) I get there are overheads but that’s spread across all products and supermarkets have a lot of products. So you’d still have to have a lot of theft in a supermarket before you get close to a dent in those 2% margins. Edit: as an aside, this is also why high value items such as alcohol are usually at the back of the store. It’s easier to identify and catch someone stealing if they’ve attempted to conceal a product for the entirely length of the shop.
- mikkupikku 9mo ago
  [flagged]
  - hnlmorg 9mo ago
    That’s not even remotely what I was saying. > Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ——— My point is that shop lifting is small scale compared to legal sales. So for a supermarket to make a loss from shoplifting, they’d either have to see a significant jump in items stolen. This doesn’t mean that I condone theft; it just means I’ve ran the operating costs and margins for running retail stores and thought I’d share that insight.