DealBook: Icahn Adds eBay to His Targets in Technology

Bits: Who Is Selling Target’s Data?

For Target’s Shoppers, a New Holiday To-Do List

Q. If you shopped at Target during that period, what should you do now?

A. The first thing you should do is go online and check your credit card or bank statement. If everything looks fine, make a note to go back and check the statements again every few days.

If you see suspicious charges, contact your credit card company or your financial institution right away.

Q. What should you look for, and for how long?

A. With lots of extra purchases being made for the holidays, this can be a tricky time of year to remember what you bought, so it’s important to be extra vigilant.

According to John Ulzheimer, a consumer credit expert for Credit Sesame, the “smart fraudster” won’t go out and buy a dozen big-screen TVs. They will make small purchases, like something for $29, at an inconspicuous venue like a drugstore, to try to avoid any notice.

“What that does is it lets them know they’ve got a valid card that’s still in play, and then they can pepper you to death with it,” Mr. Ulzheimer said. “So even if it’s a small dollar amount, it doesn’t hurt to verify to make sure it was really you.”

A thief might also sit on the card information for a period of months, maybe even years, Mr. Ulzheimer said, waiting for an initial spurt of vigilance to subside, so it is important to pay attention in the long run.

Q. If a thief makes a purchase, will I be liable?

A. In most cases, federal law limits consumer liability to a maximum of $50 in the case of credit card fraud. The ceiling for debit card liability is higher, up to $500. Another concern, according to Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, is that if money is drained from a consumer’s bank account, it can take weeks for the victim to be made whole again. This can cause a great deal of strain for somebody without a financial cushion.

Q. Should I cancel my credit or debit card?

A. While Mr. Ulzheimer says that at this juncture, people do not need to cancel their cards, other experts disagree.

Eva Velasquez, chief executive of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit that helps victims of identity theft, suggests that people who shopped at Target when the data was breached cancel their credit card and get a new one. If shoppers used a debit card, she said they should get a new card and change their PIN — PINs should be changed periodically anyway, so now is a good time to do it.

Q. How do I monitor for identify theft?

A. While experts emphasize that a data breach and identify theft are different, Ms. Velasquez says that the former can increase your chances of the latter.

You can receive a free annual credit report from each of the three major reporting bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com. You can also add a 90-day fraud alert to your credit file so creditors will know to take extra precautions before approving any credit applications.

Often, Mr. Ulzheimer said, companies that have experienced similar breaches will buy credit monitoring services for affected customers. And people who think they may have been affected can also sign up for free credit monitoring.

The most aggressive thing you can do is put a freeze on your credit, which will make it impossible for anyone — including you — to open new lines of credit. But this can be inconvenient, Ms. Velasquez said, and is not always something that can be undone immediately.

Q. Is it safe to shop at Target now?

A. While Ms. Velasquez says that at this early stage, the answer to that question is a personal decision, others, like Mr. Ulzheimer, say it is perfectly safe to go ahead and do so. If you use cash, experts agree that the answer is yes.

F.T.C. Targets Patent Companies

The action is only the first step in what is likely to be a lengthy and broad investigation, which could eventually result in antitrust lawsuits against the companies.

Edith Ramirez, the chairwoman of the F.T.C., said in June that she believed there is little real evidence about the costs and benefits of a rising tide of patent litigation.

By a 4-to-0 vote, the commission agreed to seek public comments on an investigation of “approximately 25 companies that are in the business of buying and asserting patents,” the agency said in a statement. It also will look at about 15 other companies that assert patents in the wireless communications industry, including manufacturers of smartphones.

After reviewing public comments, the trade commission will seek to issue subpoenas to the patent assertion entities, which are also known, unflatteringly, as “patent trolls.”

“Patents are key to innovation and competition, so it’s important for us to get a better understanding” of how the entities operate, Ms. Ramirez said in the statement Friday.

She said the Federal Trade Commission Act allows the agency to gather information about the financial operations of the companies, and it will seek to uncover how much they earn from patent lawsuits and licensing and how the profits are distributed to investors.

That information can form the basis of antitrust lawsuits, among other actions.

The purpose of the inquiry is “to expand the empirical picture on the costs and benefits” of the companies’ activity, Ms. Ramirez said. “What we learn will support informed policy decisions.”

The New York Times reported in June that Ms. Ramirez was trying to get the approval of the full commission to begin issuing subpoenas to the companies, which accounted for more than 60 percent of the 4,000 patent lawsuits filed in 2012. That figure was up from 29 percent two years earlier.

President Obama also has called for the federal government to ascertain how patent assertion entities are operating; he directed executive agencies to take steps to “protect innovators from frivolous litigation.”

The companies that are generally pointed to as the largest of the litigators say that while there is abuse of patents in some sectors, they are not themselves involved in frivolous litigation.

Patent assertion entities span a spectrum. On one end are companies that are essentially legal shells that send letters to businesses claiming infringement and demanding payments; in 2011, for example, such a company targeted coffee shops for setting up Wi-Fi networks for customers.

At the other end are companies like Mosaid Technologies and Intellectual Ventures, which buy large portfolios of patents from technology companies like Microsoft and Nokia, using them to generate licensing payments that run to the millions of dollars.

Disruptions: New Targets for Hackers: Your Car and Your House

DealBook: Hedge Fund Manager Loeb Targets Sony for a Breakup

Steve Marcus/ReutersDaniel S. Loeb’s hedge fund, Third Point, has amassed a stake of about 6.5 percent in Sony.

3:42 a.m. | Updated

An American hedge fund billionaire known for starting big fights has called for a breakup of the entertainment and electronics colossus Sony, according to people briefed on the matter, possibly setting off a battle that could roil Japan’s famously staid corporate culture.

The call, which came on Tuesday, will most likely be viewed by government officials and corporate leaders in Tokyo as a shot across the bow from Wall Street, just as Western investors begin piling into Japanese stocks.

The hedge fund manager, Daniel S. Loeb, is pressing Sony to spin off part of its entertainment arm, which includes one of the biggest film studios in Hollywood and one of the largest music labels in the world, responsible for movies like “Skyfall” and artists like Taylor Swift.

Mr. Loeb — known for ousting Yahoo’s former chief executive and luring Marissa Mayer away from Google to run the company — also signaled that he would accept a seat on Sony’s board.

His hedge fund has quietly amassed a stake of about 6.5 percent in Sony, making it one of the biggest shareholders. The holding, made up of stock and derivatives, is valued at about $1.1 billion.

Still, even big Japanese investors have often faced resistance in seeking changes at companies, a hurdle that may be significantly higher for a foreign hedge fund manager.

A spokesman for Sony, Shiro Kambe, said in a statement that the company welcomes investments. “We are focused on creating shareholder value by executing on our plan to revitalize and grow the electronics business, while further strengthening the stable business foundations of the entertainment and financial services businesses,” he said.

But Mr. Kambe also pointed to repeated assertions by Sony’s chief executive, Kazuo Hirai, that Sony Entertainment contributes significantly to the overall company and is not for sale. “We look forward to continuing constructive dialogue with our shareholders as we pursue our strategy,” he said.

Mr. Loeb, 51, the founder of the hedge fund Third Point, flew to Tokyo this weekend for three days of meetings with government officials, regulators and senior Sony executives, according to people briefed on the matter. He hand-delivered a letter on Tuesday to Mr. Hirai that praised a turnaround effort but asked for more.

“So while Third Point supports your agenda for change, we also believe that to succeed, Sony must focus,” Mr. Loeb wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.

After the meeting, the hedge fund manager told associates that he was impressed by Mr. Hirai and supported management, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Mr. Loeb said he believed that spinning off a portion of the entertainment business to Sony shareholders could sharpen the company’s focus and lead to higher profit margins, while helping to revive the core electronics business. He has also contemplated a potential spinoff or sale of other operations, including Sony’s insurance division, which accounted for much of the company’s profit last quarter.

The campaign is a bet that Japan will prove the next gold mine for global investors. Long hobbled by a so-called lost decade of little economic growth, the country has come to life in recent months under the stewardship of Shinzo Abe, who as prime minister has promoted policies meant to attract private investment. Mr. Loeb is betting that Mr. Abe will expand deregulation.

“Under Prime Minister Abe’s leadership, Japan can regain its position as one of the world’s pre-eminent economic powerhouses and manufacturing engines,” Mr. Loeb wrote in his letter.

Despite its decade-long slump, Sony, the 67-year-old electronics pioneer, remains one of the most prominent companies in Japan, with a market value of roughly $18 billion.

Still, Mr. Loeb has plenty of ammunition. Shares of Sony have plunged nearly 85 percent over the last 13 years. The company long ago ceded its crown as the king of cool electronics to Apple, and its dominance in televisions was eroded by the emergence of Korean rivals like Samsung and LG.

Last week, Sony reported its first annual profit in five years. But it reached that milestone thanks largely to the weakening yen and some belt-tightening, including the consolidation of businesses and the sale of its American headquarters.

Sony’s chief executive, Mr. Hirai, is scheduled to make a presentation about the company’s turnaround plan next week. He has argued that despite having come late to the era of digital media, the company that made the Walkman, the Trinitron television and the PlayStation can rebound.

To Mr. Loeb, more must be done, starting with the spinoff of Sony Entertainment. Though the division accounts for more than 40 percent of the company’s enterprise value, he said in his letter that it needed discipline to raise its profit margins. Mr. Loeb estimated that a partial spinoff of the entertainment business could bolster Sony’s share price by as much as 60 percent.

In his letter, Mr. Loeb proposed handing 15 to 20 percent of Sony Entertainment to existing shareholders. His firm would be willing to backstop the initial public offering up to $2 billion to ensure its success.

Other underappreciated assets include the company’s 60 percent stake in Sony Financial, which largely sells life insurance policies, as well as real estate holdings and stakes in other companies. And Mr. Loeb is expected to argue that Sony’s electronics division must sharply reduce costs, including by taking a cue from its protégé, Apple, in focusing on a few core products.

Mr. Loeb has recently expressed his interest in Japan. Referring to the changes by the Abe government, he called it “a huge game change” at an industry conference last week. “And there’s a lot more room to go,” he added.

Mr. Abe has called his revival effort a plan of “three arrows,” including aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan and enormous stimulus spending by the government.

So far, that effort appears to have drawn investor plaudits. The yen weakened in value last week, to 100 to the dollar, a level unseen in four years, helping local companies like Sony and Toyota. And the Nikkei 225-stock index has risen 43 percent so far this year. At the same time two years ago, the Nikkei was down 5.7 percent.

Shares in Sony rose 1.2 percent in Tokyo on Tuesday, while the Nikkei closed down 0.16 percent.

But it is the third arrow that has Mr. Loeb’s attention. The Abe government hopes to shed Japan’s reputation as a land of strict hierarchy and bureaucracy. Business mistakes were often seen as shameful, and outright confrontation largely disdained.

“There’s an entrenched management culture there,” said Lawrence B. Lindsey, a former top economist in the administration of President George W. Bush. “Activists aren’t particularly popular here among management, and they won’t be popular in Japan either.”

No less than Howard Stringer, Sony’s own chairman, has criticized the status quo.

“Japan is a harmonious society which cherishes its social values, including full employment,” he said in a speech last year. “That leads to conflicts in a world where shareholder value calls for ever greater efficiency.”

Yet there have been changes. The percentage of foreign ownership in companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange nearly quintupled, to 24 percent, from 1990 to 2008. And Japanese shareholders have increasingly adopted the aggressive tactics of Western fund managers.

Sony is the biggest bet yet for Mr. Loeb, an intense California native who built his name largely upon acidly written letters, berating targets for mismanagement and calling for change.

The strategy has proved profitable. Third Point’s returns are up 13.3 percent this year and up 2.6 percent for the first week of May. Forbes estimates Mr. Loeb’s net worth at about $1.5 billion.

Perhaps the most prominent victory has been Third Point’s investment in Yahoo, where Mr. Loeb pushed for the dismissal of a chief executive after exposing the executive for falsifying academic credentials.

Mindful of Japanese decorum, however, Mr. Loeb strikes a more conciliatory tone in his letter to Mr. Hirai of Sony. His calls are couched as suggestions aimed at improving the company, rather than aggressive demands.

“Third Point would not have made this substantial investment if we did not believe in a bright future for Sony’s global brand, superior technology, and dedicated employees,” he wrote. “We are confident that by acting as partners, Sony will grow stronger.”

Hiroko Tabuchi contributed reporting.

Nokia's Low-Priced Phone Targets Emerging Markets

BERLIN — Nokia, struggling to regain traction with its make-or-break line of Windows smartphones, introduced a moderately priced, Internet-ready model on Tuesday targeted at emerging markets around the world.

Nokia said the new smartphone, the Lumia 510, would cost about $199 and be sold initially in India, China, Latin America and some other emerging markets where the penetration of smartphones, unlike those in more mature Western markets, is still very low.

The new smartphone is the eighth in the Lumia line running the Windows operating system. Nokia is hoping the line will reinvigorate sales and is resting much of its future on its success, according to analysts.

Last week, Nokia reported a loss of €969 million, or $1.26 billion, for the third quarter, as sales of Lumia smartphones fell to 2.9 million units from 4 million in the previous quarter.

Nokia, the global smartphone market leader until the arrival of the iPhone from Apple in 2007, is fighting to reassert its relevance in an industry that has become increasingly dominated by models running Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating systems.

The newest smartphone is the first step in a major expansion of the Lumia line announced last week to create a full range of alternatives to iOS and Android phones.

“With the Nokia Lumia 510, we continue to meet our commitment to bring Windows Phone to new, lower price points,” said Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia’s smart devices business.

While the company, based in Espoo, Finland, has slipped in the global rankings during its two-year transition to Windows phones, it remains the No.2 maker of cellphones after Samsung. In the second quarter, Nokia sold 84 million cellphones worldwide while Samsung sold 93 million, according to Strategy Analytics, a research firm in Boston.

The Lumia 510 will be sold starting in November in five different colors, red, yellow, cyan, white and black, and will run on version 7.5 of the Microsoft Windows Phone operating system. The touch-screen phone comes with a five-megapixel camera and Microsoft’s scrolling tiles interface.

Nokia is seeking to exploit its sizable presence in emerging markets, where consumers are just beginning to buy Internet-ready smartphones.

Sixteen years after Nokia introduced the world’s first smartphone, the Nokia Communicator, the number of smartphone users worldwide finally topped one billion at the end of September, according to Strategy Analytics. But it will take less than three years, by the end of 2015, to add the second billion, according to the research firm.

Neil Mawston, a Strategy Analytics analyst in Milton Keynes, England, said most of those new buyers were expected to come from markets that Nokia was targeting with the Lumia 510: China, India and other emerging markets in Asia and Latin America.

Nokia’s long history in emerging markets will benefit the Finnish company, Mr. Mawston said, but it must still overcome the reputational damage suffered among consumers over the past two years as it phased out phones based on Nokia’s in-house operating system, Symbian.

He compared Nokia’s challenge to that faced by Samsung, which was struggling before it released the Galaxy S smartphone in March 2010. Sales of the Galaxy smartphone line helped Samsung overtake Nokia this year as the top cellphone maker.

“It will be a double-edged sword for Nokia,” Mr. Mawston said. “But there is definitely potential for Nokia to turn things around. They only need one killer device.”

Convertible bonds planned

Nokia plans to raise €750 million by issuing bonds that can be converted into shares, seeking an inexpensive way to bolster its fragile finances as it battles to win back market share, Reuters reported from Helsinki.

With its cash reserves falling and its credit ratings cut to junk over the past year, analysts have said Nokia needs to show a turnaround in the next several months if it is to survive.

But analysts said Nokia was smart to choose convertible bonds, which normally pay lower interest rates than conventional bonds because they offer investors the chance of making money when they are converted into shares.

“It is a rather cheap way to get extra financing,” said Mikko Ervasti, an analyst with Evli.

Bits Blog: Google Warns of New State-Sponsored Cyberattack Targets

The warning from Google.

In June, many Google users were surprised to see an unusual greeting at the top of their Gmail inbox, Google home page or Chrome browser. “Warning: We believe state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer.”

On Tuesday, tens of thousands more Google users will begin to see that message. The company said that since it started alerting users to malicious — probably state-sponsored — activity on their computers in June, it has picked up thousands more instances of cyberattacks than it anticipated.

Mike Wiacek, a manager on Google’s information security team, said in an interview on Tuesday that since Google started to alert users to state-sponsored attacks three months ago, it had gathered new intelligence about attack methods and the groups deploying them. He said the company was using that information to warn “tens of thousands of new users” that they may have been targets, starting on Tuesday.

By Tuesday afternoon, several people — many of them American journalists and foreign policy experts — had already taken to Twitter to say they had seen the warning. Noah Schactman, the editor of Wired’s national security blog “Danger Room,” tweeted: “Aaaaand I just got Google’s ‘you may be a victim of a state-sponsored attack’ notice. #WhatTookYouSoLong?” Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, also reported getting the message.  As did Joshua Foust, a fellow at the American Security Project, a nonprofit research organization, who has written extensively about Afghanistan.

Mr. Wiacek noted that Google had seen an increase in state-sponsored activity coming from the Middle East. He declined to call out particular countries, but he said the activity was coming from “a slew of different countries” in the region.

Those findings triangulate with recent discoveries by security researchers that Middle Eastern states, including Iran, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, have used spyware to monitor citizens and activists overseas.

Last week, several American banks were hit with cyberattacks by hackers claiming Middle Eastern ties. Security researchers have said they have noticed an increase in cyberattacks originating in the region. “We absolutely have seen more activity from the Middle East, and in particular Iran has been increasingly active as they build up their cybercapabilities,” George Kurtz, the president of CrowdStrike, a computer security company, said in a recent interview.

Mr. Wiacek said there were several steps Google users, especially those who get its warning, could take to protect themselves, like changing their e-mail and account passwords, enabling Google’s two-step authentication service and running their computer software updates.