Target data breach: applying user-centered design principles to data breach notifications

This article uses the 2013 Target data breach to illustrate the need for creating a model for companies' communications for data breach notifications. Companies have a duty of responsibility to their customers when hackers steal customer information. This responsibility includes how they communicate the extent and severity of the breach, how it affects individual customers, and what customers need to do to protect themselves. I approach this case from the multi-disciplinary field of technical communication to demonstrate why certain principles from technical communication are preferred to communicate this important information to customers. Using a heuristic approach combined with methods of rhetorical analysis, this article analyzes a data breach notification to evaluate the rhetorical effectiveness of the notification from the user-centered design perspective.