Why 2014 was a good year for retail robbers?

Home Depot was one of many big US stores hit by malware that stolen payment card data

Cyber thieves have had a good year. Especially those seeking to steal from shops and stores.

Millions of payment card details have been liberated by gangs that targeted the payment systems at tills.

The attacks started in December 2013 with US retailer Target. Throughout 2014 other stores, including Home Depot, Staples, Sears, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom to name but a few, all fell victim to the till-tapping gangs.

As well as liberating tens of millions of credit card numbers, the attacks cost some senior executives their jobs and left those that were hit with a bill that often ran into the tens of millions of dollars to clean up. Home Depot said the bill for clearing up after its breach would hit $43m (£28m).

There were so many attacks that the FBI issued a three-page confidential warning to American retailers telling them to watch out for malicious programs aimed at them.

The key word in that last sentence is "American". Almost all the big thefts of customer data were from large US stores.

Sears was the victim of a suspected attack by cyber criminals

"There's a fundamental flaw in the US credit card system in that they do not use chip and pin," said Seth Berman, managing director of the London office of risk management firm Stroz Friedburg.

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