Sally Beauty is reporting that a security break discovered on March 5 affected fewer than 25,000 credit and debit card accounts. The Denton, Texas-based seller of beauty supplies says it is pursuing its investigation with a forensics firm and the U.S. Secret Service.

Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc launched a cross-industry group to improve security for credit card transactions.

Cybersecurity is the unsung linchpin of every company that has grown increasingly dependent upon vulnerable technologies, whether to communicate, to store sensitive data, or to manufacture and deliver its products and services.

Attorney General Eric Holder is urging Congress to require businesses to quickly alert consumers and law enforcement agencies in the wake of a significant data breach, similar to the ones at Target and Neiman Marcus.

More than 300,000 personal records for faculty, staff and students who have received identification cards at the University of Maryland were compromised in a cybersecurity breach this week, according to school officials.

Illinois residents are increasingly worried about how businesses protect their personal and financial information in the wake of widespread data breaches in 2013. The Illinois Attorney General’s Office saw a 1,600-percent increase in data breach complaints compared to 2012. The office received more than 20,500 complaints in 2013, and identity theft complaints recorded the largest increase – from 2,544 complaints in 2012 to 3,009 in 2013. Within this category, Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office reported a significant increase in complaints about data breaches specifically – from 33 complaints in 2012 to 576 in 2013.

The rash of attacks against Target and other top retailers is likely to be the leading edge of a wave of serious cybercrime.

Hospitals need to do a better job of encrypting patient data to address the spiraling scale of security breaches, concludes a new report from healthcare IT security company Redspin. The report also notes that healthcare organizations need to bridge the gap between the demand from doctors and nurses using their own devices in the workplace (BYOD) and enacting the necessary security measures to ensure patient information contained on those devices is protected if they are lost or stolen.

The Secret Service is urging U.S. lawmakers to do more to prevent the cyber thefts similar to those that have recently hit Target Corp and other major retailers. According to William Noonan, a top agent with the Secret Service’s cyber operations branch, “Legislative action could help to improve the nation’s cybersecurity, reduce regulatory costs on U.S. companies, and strengthen law enforcement’s ability to conduct effective investigations.”

Target Corp will speed up a program to implement the use of chip-enabled smart cards to protect against cyber theft.