Target's Chief Information Officer announced her resignation on Wednesday, as the giant retailer tries to bounce back from a massive security breach that compromised the information of some 70 million customers.
Beth Jacob, who has been the Chief Information Officer since 2008, oversaw Target's staff in the U.S. and India, the Associated Press reported.
Jacob said resigning was a "difficult decision," the AP reported, but acknowledged that "this was a time of significant transformation for the retail industry and for Target."
Target Chairman, President and CEO Gregg Steinhafel told the AP in a statement that the company will search for an interim CIO to help revamp its information security and compliance division.
"To ensure that Target is well positioned following the data breach we suffered last year, we are undertaking an overhaul of our information security and compliance structure and practices at Target," Steinhafel said, according to The Washington Post.
Target suffered an unprecedented security breach during the 2013 holiday season where the debit and credit card information of millions of its customers was compromised. The breach occurred for a period of three weeks between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15. Target announced the breech on Dec. 17, after they had resolved the break in.
The company apologized to its customers and launched an internal investigation, but profits have taken a hit. For the fourth quarter, the company saw a 46 percent drop in profits and a revenue loss of 5.3 percent, the AP reported.
Target is also looking to hire a chief information security officer and a chief compliance officer. The company is also splitting the roles of its current vice president of assurance risk and compliance, who had planned on retiring at the end of this month. The vice president used to be in charge of the chief compliance officer.
Target said it is working with the company Promontory Financial Group to help it alter its security system.
"In the weeks ahead, we hope to understand more about how this attack happened. And will use what we learn to inform our guests, make Target a safer place to shop and to drive change across the broader retail industry," Steinhafel said, the AP reported.
