Data Breach + Bad Usability = Worst Possible Combo
Target (the retailer) was hacked recently and 110 million customer records were stolen. Target took swift action and offered customers free credit monitoring for 1 year. They sent an email asking customers to visit protectmyid.com and enter their activation code.
Let’s think about this from the perspective of a Target customer. They are obviously freaking out and any personal information requested by Target is a sore topic. But I wanted my identity protected so I visited the requested page. Screenshot of top half of page—
On protectmyid.com I’m required to enter my Social Security number. That’s a big deal. I wanted to make sure this was a legitimate site so I scrolled to bottom of page and clicked BBB (Better Business Bureau) link on footer—
Guess what? The link doesn’t work. Don’t believe me? Go to protectmyid.com/target and click BBB (Better Business Bureau) link on bottom half of page.
This is very very wrong. And http://www.protectmyid.com/target now shows
“The requested URL was rejected.
Thank you for reaching us please contact our customer service at +1-877-481-6826”
So if they’re still asking people to go to this URL, it’s probably leading to a lot more frustration.
True. I was, however, able to get to http://www.protectmyid.com/target. Maybe it was down for a while and is now up?
Tried it again and same message. Am guessing it’s because I’m located in India. Maybe an attempt to stop further issues and only allow US visitors.
Yup, that’s probably it!