Target Fixes System-Wide Register Glitch, Says No Data Breach

(Bloomberg) -- Target Corp. said a system-wide outage that prevented customers from making purchases at its stores on Saturday has been fixed.

The two-hour outage, which affected its registers, was caused by an internal technology problem, the retail chain said, without giving more details.

“Our technology team worked quickly to identify and fix the issue,” Target said in an emailed statement. “After an initial but thorough review, we can confirm that this was not a data breach or security-related issue.”

Target’s reassurance followed a 2013 data breach that exposed payment card data of millions of the discount store company’s customers. A settlement won final approval in November 2016 in a federal district court in Minnesota, awarding $10 million to Target customers.

Saturday’s outage came on the eve of Father’s Day in the U.S., when the retailer was promoting various items -- from ties to golf balls -- as last-minute gift ideas for dads. Customers earlier took on Twitter, sharing images of the long lines and the abandoned shopping carts. The hashtag #targetdown quickly became a trending topic on the social media platform.

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