TJX finds closure for breach in big time sale

We’ve all come to refer to the TJX data breach as the largest one in history, with an estimated 45.7 million credit card accounts exposed through a brech in the discount retaler’s wireless network. Some even place the number of affected acounts in the vicinity 94 million. Whichever the real number is, it is huge, scary and as it has happened over a significant period of time, it got plenty of coverage.

In the recovery process, they had to pay 40.9 million dollars to settle a lawsuit, but according to the Register TJX had created a 118 million fund to pay for breach-related damages in August 2007. 11 people were charged in relation with the data theft and some trials are still ongoing. The retailer has made an attempt to close this dark chapter for good by offering one-day 15 percent discounts in all its US and Canadian stores, as a token of their appreciation for the customers “for retaining their loyalty after it did such a bad job of retaining their records”.

Nice strategy to reward customers, build trust and boost sales at the same time! But I believe they need to implement all the cutting edge security toys in the market and make every new added layer of protection public to ease the minds of those affected.