Target says registers back online, blames outage on technology issue

Target Corp on Saturday said its payment registers were back online after a systems outage stopped customers in the United States from paying for in-store purchases.


The outage was caused by an “internal technology issue” that lasted for about two hours and was not a data breach or security-related issue, Target said in a statement.


The retailer said no guest information was compromised.


According to media reports, the problem affected Target stores across the country.


Some customers took to Twitter to complain using the hashtag #targetdown, and many commended Target employees for handling the situation well.


“The poor people @ TarGeT,” one Twitter user with the handle @writeriowa wrote. “I walked in, they apologized profusely, and handed me coupons. It’s not the local employees’ fault, so please, be patient and kind. #targetdown.”


“To my fellow target employees, stay strong in this dark time. #targetdown,” another user tweeted.


A defect in a network device in June 2014 also caused problems with Target’s payment processing systems, according to media reports.