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CEO of Target takes the rap for security breach

The news has been dominated recently by the story of the Target data breach, which saw the data of an increasing number of customers get leaked through a malware hack on the systems used by the retail chain. This has been said to include not just credit card numbers, but also contact information such as email addresses and phone numbers.

What's a CEO to do in this kind of situation? It might be easy to lay low, say the obligatory things and keep out of the public eye. But Greg Steinhafel, Target's Chief Executive, has put damage cleanup as one of his CEO responsibilities, at least for now, and is presenting himself as someone personally affected by the problems caused by this turn of events.

In an interview with CNBC, he opened by telling his customers that they have "zero liability" and that his company will attempt to make amends by paying for any lost money and inconveniences that victims of this breach may have suffered. And he continuously used language that put Target as the chief player working to resolve the issue.

"Clearly, we're accountable, and we're responsible," he told the news source's interviewer. "but we're going to come out at the end of this a better company and we're going to make significant changes. That's what you do when you go through a period like this."

But his comments could just as easily be seen as evasive to some viewers. Any business that does go through "a period like this" will need someone at the helm that can portray a calm, responsible image, and this is the sort of person executive search consultants can assist in locating.

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