Big American retail stores have become a top target for cyber attacks, making it difficult to protect sensitive customer data.

In the midst of busy holiday shopping season, hackers swiped personal data from more than 70 million Target customers.

Newer credit card technology with smart chips and pin numbers would better protect consumer privacy but it could also slow down checkout lines.

One possible solution is a federal law that requires companies to notify shoppers right away if they have been hacked instead of waiting on different state laws to kick in.