What Target’s data breach means for consumers [Live video chat]

Target reported Thursday that data from 40 million credit and debit cards used by its customers might have been stolen by cyber-crooks between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15.

The breach affects any customers who used their payment cards at U.S. stores, the Minneapolis-based retailer said.

Target said that the criminals now have shoppers’ names, card numbers, expiration dates and three-digit security codes at their disposal.

REPLAY: How to protect your data from cyber crooks

What does this mean for you, and what steps can you take to protect yourself? Join us for a live video chat with Times consumer columnist David Lazarus, business reporter Ricardo Lopez and Scott Mitic, an identity theft expert. He is a senior vice president at credit reporting agency Equifax.

The video chat starts at 3 p.m. Pacific time; feel free to tweet, Facebook or send us questions via Google+