0 >> thanks for watching "around the world." >> "cnn newsroom" starts right now. have a good afternoon. right now, federal investigation is under way into a major hacking attack against shoppers at target. credit card information belonging to tens of millions of people have been stolen. we'll tell you how to find out if you're a victim and what you need to do. to protect yourself against this growing threat. right now, hillary clinton isn't saying whether she'll run for president. but she does say when she'll decide. we'll discuss, whether an issue from the past could come back to haunt secretary clinton, one potential democratic opponents is talking about that issue. and right now, russian president vladimir putin is offering amnesty, allowing thousands out of prison, including a former billionaire rival and some punk rockers. he's also defending russia's value as head of the olympic games. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we begin with that massive security breach at one of the large retail chains in the united states during the height of the holiday shopping season. target says, hackers may have stolen credit and debit card information from as many as 40 million, yes 40 million, of its shoppers. the breach happened at target stores not online between november 27th, that's the day before thanksgiving, and december 15th, this past sunday. a security researcher who first reported the breach says thieves gains access to data on those magnetic strips of shoppers' cards and that allowed them to make counterfeit versions of the cards the u.s. secret service, which safeguards the country's payment systems, is now investigating. we want to get more information on what's going on consumers are especially vulnerable to this time when hackers go into overdrive. there are ways to protect yourself. cnn money's laurie segall has that. >> i'm connected to this phone wirelessly right now. in real-time, i'm stealing credit card data. i have to log in, i can make a selection here. and then i can do a credit card swipe. i now have all of your credit card data in here. >> these stockings the grinch are the first things to do. >> reporter: when grinch-like hackers literally steal christmas. these guys are not grinchers, they're researchers with trust wave. their job, find flaws in technology to protect users or shoppers. >> click pay. nothing seems untoward. you're paid. you get your receipt, move on. >> reporter: bypass the cash register, swipe your card on iphone. >> ipod, iphone. works with ipad. you've gone into a big box retailer, you've made a purchase, employee's here to help you now, and you handed me your card, run the card through. >> reporter: and that's where shoppers are at risk. >> once a credit card transaction is run through, we're able to steal the transactions if encrypted if they're not encrypted in the hardware. >> reporter: the problem is in the software retailers are use to process your payments. in some cases, that software doesn't hide or encrypt your personal information which makes it easy bait for hackers. they can manipulate the device in a way to tracking activity, like credit card numbers swiped or typed? >> as technology advances at a rapid place, security is slow to catch up. >> reporter: it encourages ethical hacking, essentially breaking a system before it's deployed to find weak points. while it's up to retailers and banks to detect it, consumers should always be on the lookout. >> if the cash register attendant, entering your credit card number with fingers rather than a swipe, there's no way that the credit card is encrypted. >> reporter: they recommend customers keep tabs on their transactions, especially during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. >> reporter: using this hack, how long will it take someone to get hundreds of thousands of people's credit card information? >> legitimately you can get credit card information as soon as the clerk or clarks, if you compromise multiple point of sales, can swipe credit cards. >> reporter: what it would have looked like if the grinch went high-tech. >> laurie's joining us from new york. how does someone know if they've been hacked? >> i would say if you're in target between november 27th and december 15th, you need to be checking your bank statements. you need to be looking in a certain way. sometimes hackers might not charge large payment. they might charge micropayments i'm spoke to someone who thinks they've been hacked. showed me transactions they didn't have between $4 and $89. so definitely start with checking bank account statements, wolf. >> to make sure that there's nothing unusual there. what are some other tips to keep yourself safe? >> you know, as i mentioned before, i would say the number one is check your statement, see if there are any irregular charges. you know, call your credit card company. call the bank. call target. get on the phone with these folks now. and also, you know worst-case scenario, replace your credit card. change your pin number. that could be a solution. and also, you know for some folks, sign up for a fraud monitoring service. there's one called lifelock. but you know, i should mention, you are protected card issuers don't hold you liable for fraudulent activity. that being said, this is horrifically inconvenient. if you were in the stores, you should check your bank statement repeatedly. >> thank you. we're getting an important story just coming in now. jim sciutto is over at the pentagon right now. you're learning new information on anti-iran sanctions bill that is about to be introduced? what's going on? >> that's right, wolf. i'm told by a senior senate aide involved in drafting this bill that senators mark kirk, republican, senator bob menendez, a democrat, very involved on the iran issue, will introduce a bill today that would apply new sanctions to iran and here's how it's described. i'm quoting from the aide. it will give the president up to a year potentially to negotiate with iran before sanctions must kick, though sanctions would come back sooner if iran cheats on the deal, plans a terror attack against the u.s. or launches a look-range ballistic missile. a change in here from previous bills, there had been a six-month delay discussed to allow the six-month interim agreement with iran to proceed before sanctions come in. what's significant, and you and i have talked about this a number of times, iran has made it very clear they don't want any new sanctions imposed. the iranian foreign minister said a week ago if that happened, any new sanctions would kill an interim deal. the administration's pushing hard on this, pushing back to keep this from happening. i'm told by the senior senate aide they have a quarter of the senate on board, equal democrats and republicans. at least in this aide's view that would be a difficult support for a senator harry reid, democratic leader, not allow this to come to a vote next month. >> i assume it will passes specially since they give the iranians a year to comply with this deal, this interim deal, if it works out, these new sanctions would not go into effect in the course of the year. if it doesn't work out, the sanctions would go into effect. i assume it would pass the senate if allowed to come up for a vote, pass the house of representatives. here's the question, i don't know if we have reaction from the white house. if the house passes it the senate passes it, would the president veto it or sign it into law? >> we don't have reaction from the white house yet. one way they're hamstrung, wolf if you read the text of the interim deal with iran -- i can't quote it now because i don't have it in front of me -- i know it has language in there that says, no new sanctions will be applied during the six months of the interim deal. i suppose you have legal wiggle room they wouldn't be applied, they're held out for 12 months or earlier, if iran violates the agreement, but at least the indications we've gotten consistently from the administration, as well as the iranians, they will treat something like this as new sanctions. it would be a real challenge for the administration to overcome this. >> well, it's a sensitive issue, obvious obviously. a sensitive point in the negotiations with the iranians. we'll stay on top of it. we've got reaction from the white house as well. jim sciutto, more in the situation later on this today. will she or won't she? hillary clinton will decide next year whether she'll run for president of the united states in 2016. clinton says, right now the country should be focused on unemployment and economy, not the next presidential election. in an interview with abc's barbara wallers she couldn't avoid the inevitable questions about 2016. >> okay. here it comes. when will you, if you do, decide whether or not you're going to run for president? >> well, it's such a difficult decision and it's one that i am not going to rush into. i haven't made up my mind. i really have not. i will look carefully at what i think i can do and make that decision, you know, some time next year. >> does your husband want you to run? there he is very respectful. he knows that this is -- >> he does want you to run. >> well, he wants me to do what i think is right. >> if you ran and you became president, what would i call your husband? first spouse? >> i have no idea. first mate. >> political report, peter hamby in iowa. so, what do you make of secretary clinton's latest remarks about 2016, peter? >> reporter: well, honestly, wolf, not very much other than the fact that she said she would make her decision sometime next year as opposed to after next year's midterm election which is what potential presidential candidates say. most revealing thing about this to me is, again, the amount of attention it's getting which signifies you know the kind of swirling intensity of the attention that's being paid to her at the moment. she's being named one of the most intriguing people of 2013 but left the state department, you will recall, back in february. but talking to people out here in iowa, talking to iowa democrats, they want to see her soon. they want her to come out here. i was talking to a bunch last night at a liberal event, just outside des moines, and you know, they respect her. they like her though she lost here in 20008. there's two house races, senate race, governor's race next year, if she wants to be a loyal soldier democrat, there's plenty of chances to come out here next year. >> to start campaigning for the democrats it couldn't hurt her. probably help her if she wants to run in iowa caucuses in 2016. one issue, though, could hurt her and it's already resurfaces where you are in iowa. her vote in favor of the war in iraq. the former montana governor, brian schweitzer telling iowa democrats what only yesterday that secretary clinton's decision to support military inaction in iraq was the wrong decision. what's go on here? schweitzer, his name has been thrown out as well as foenpoten democratic candidate even though he's not well-known. >> reporter: that's right. he's throwing his own name out there. brian schweitzer a former two-term democratic governor of montana, self-styled prairie pop lift who likes to talk about economic issues. he came through iowa last night and gave a speech to a liberal group called progress iowa here. and he, you know, brought up hillary clinton's iraq war vote. he didn't mention her by name but it was clear who he was talking. tack a listen to what he said last night in iowa, wolf. >> anybody who runs in the cycle, whether democrats or republicans, if they were in the united states senate and voted with george bush to go to iraq when i'd say 98% of america knows it was a folly, a waste of treasure and blood, and if they voted to go to iraq, there will be questions for them. en on left and on the right. >> reporter: now, schweitzer is just sort of poking around out here in iowa but again and again in an interview with me and in the speech he gave, he made these veiled illusions to hillary clinton, both her vote for the iraq war and just the fact she's been in politics for so long. it was surprising that people in the room, i've got to tell you last night, thought he was going to talk about economic issues, incomee inequality and thing like that. people were surprise head brought up iraq war vote over ten years old. she voted for iraq war in 2002. as secretary of state she helped wind down the war in iraq. wolf? >> that strategy work for a young senator from illinois in 2007-2008, barack obama. he opposes the war in iraq, she voted for it. it was a major campaign issue on his part. maybe shweeker is going to barack obama's play book against hillary clinton. another story out of iowa, the state's republican governor, terry brand stad had blunt words against biden and his run. biden is dead meat out here. he is so associated with the administration and all of its failures. he was unpopular before and he's less popular now, from a republican, a republican incumbent governor. but that's pretty harsh coming from a governor against a sitting vice president to call him, quote, dead meat. >> reporter: absolutely. what's interesting about that, yes, you're right, he is a republican. but terry branstad, the governor, is genial guy. i spoke to him yesterday in his office, over my shoulder here in the state capitol yesterday, we were talking about 2016. he admitted he knows more about what republicans are thinking than democrats but but he has a point. you know, quinnipiac poll this week showed about half of democrats think biden would be a good president. a full third of departments don't think he'd be a good president. hillary clinton, you know, about 90% of democrats think she would be a good president. biden's poll numbers here in iowa not great, even among democrats, wolf. >> peter hamby on the scene in iowa. early to be in iowa but never to be in iowa for those of us who love politics. next, the olympic controversy in russia. vladimir putin takes aim at his social enemies. i'll talk about it with christiane amanpour. you'll hear what billie jean king told christiane about representing the united states at the sochi winter olympic games. ♪ how do you explain the feeling of this place? 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