Largest ever credit-card number theft at US retailer TJX

dpa German Press Agency Published: Thursday March 29, 2007

Washington- At least 45.7 million customer credit and debit
card numbers have been stolen from major US retailer TJX after the
company's computer system was hacked, the company said Thursday.
The numbers were published in TJX's annual report to the US
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

It was "the biggest breach of personal data ever reported," The
Boston Globe said in its online edition Thursday.

According to TJX, the theft of personal data happened over an 18-
month period. The company on Thursday gave the first concrete figures
relating to the computer system break-in which had already been made
public in January.

Data from its computer system in Britain was also stolen, the
retail giant said.

The stolen information related to transactions dating back to
December 2002.

TJX owns a number of department-store and retail chains in the US,
including T J Maxx, Marshall's and A J Wright, as well as Winners in
Canada and T K Maxx in Britain and Ireland.

The company's profit in the last financial year was 776.8 million
dollars on turnover of 17.4 billion dollars. Altogether, TJX owns
some 2,466 shops.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency

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