Target Named as Victim of World's Greatest Identity Thief

Florida-based computer hacker Albert Gonzalez pleaded guilty Tuesday to a third set of charges related to the largest identity theft scheme in U.S. history. Gonzalez stole information connected to more than 130 million credit and debit cards from five companies, including Heartland Payment Systems (HPY), Hannaford Brothers supermarkets, 7-Eleven and two major unnamed national retailers.

Shortly after the hearing on Tuesday, Reuters identified Target (TGT) as one of the retailers affected, though Target said the breach lasted only a short time. U.S. Attorney Erez Liebermann said in August that the vast majority of the stolen card information came from Heartland Payment Systems.