1) The POS systems hacked used MS XP, and security has NO priority at MS. Since the dawn of the information age, coders have NEVER made security a priority, least among them MS.
2) The "hacks" have been available since 2005, and earlier variants since 2003, YET MS wrote no patches. As one of the largest in the entire industry, it surpasses rationality that they were not aware, alerted.
3) The original hacks were apparently written by a 17 yo. I take nothing away from his brilliance, but if a 17 yo can defeat the legions of coders, security personnel, can MS claim security has any priority?
4) The Target hack involved 110 million. That's 1/3 of the US population, and a far larger % of card holding adults. Now, other retailers are involved. Economic terrorism must be a priority.