Target announced that its Chief Executive Officer Gregg Steinhafel is stepping down from his post following the huge data breach that revealed the credit and debit card information of at least 40 million retail customers last year.

Steinhafel will also resign as chairman of the board and the president of the retail company.

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In a letter, Steinhatel said Target had been tested during the last few months in unprecedented ways. He also said that right from the start; he was committed in working to make sure the retail company emerges stronger after the data breach by concentrating on delivering the needs of the clients.

This January, the company revealed that the data breach also compromised the personal information of around 70 million customers.

Last year's breach also showed the weak security practices of the company, including the storage of 3-digit CVV credit card codes, which is against the rules.

The hackers also embezzled the encrypted PIN data of customers' debit cards during the security breach, even if they have no access to the keys needed to decrypt the PIN data.  

After the breech, Target announced that they will speed up the process of adopting credit and debit cards that are already chip-based.

In addition, the company is anticipated to change its in-house branded cards that have PIN and chip security next year.

Once Steinhafel steps down, Target's chief financial officer, John Mulligan, will act as the company's CEO and interim president until a replacement is found.

Just a week ago, the company employed Bob DeRodes to be the new CIO. He will replace the former CIO who stepped down in March.