Identity Theft Fraud Alert: TJ Maxx & Marshalls Customers

ID Theft Fraud Alert for Consumers

Last week, TJX Companies Inc., the parent company of retail stores TJ Maxx and Marshalls, had announced they'd been a target of a data breach by hackers.

The interesting part of the story is that today the Massachusetts Bankers Association (MBA) announced that several recent incidents of fraud were related to the TJX data breach.  Credit and debit card numbers and customer information has been used for fraudulent purchases according to the MBA.

According to some press reports, TJX has hired General Dynamics Corporation and IBM to help evaluate the data breach and help them re-evaluate their data security systems and practices.  That's a positive step in the right direction, however TJX would have benefited more by getting external expert advice long before this incident occurred.

Take-away for leaders and organizations: Seek expert help before a significant data breach occurs.  Invest in your information security and risk management programs as a top priority.

TJX Companies, Inc.
http://www.tjx.com/tjx_message.html

The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2007/01/banks_begin_rep.html

Computerworld
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9008599&intsrc=hm_list

BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8MRPDNO1.htm