T.J. Maxx data theft worse than first reported

TJX’s Lang said Thursday that the company could not yet confirm whether the data used in those thefts originated at TJX.

Gainesville, Fla. police have said they believe the Florida suspects bought the card numbers from someone else, and weren’t the TJX hackers.

In Wednesday’s filing, TJX said for the first time that Dec. 18, 2006, was the date it first learned that there was suspicious software on its computer system.

TJX said it believes hackers invaded its systems in July 2005, on later dates in 2005 and also from mid-May 2006 to mid-January 2007. The company said no customer information was stolen after Dec. 18, one day before it hired General Dynamics Corp. and IBM Corp. to investigate. By Dec. 21, those investigators determined that the computer systems had been breached and that an intruder remained on the systems.

TJX said it notified federal authorities Dec. 22, and on Jan. 3, TJX officials and Secret Service agents met with banks and payment card and check processing companies to discuss the computer intrusion.

The company issued a news release Jan. 17 disclosing the breach but did not say how much data was stolen.

TJX is facing an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and lawsuits from individuals and banks accusing it of failing to do enough to safeguard private data and of delaying disclosure of the problem.

The company said in Wednesday’s filing that its forensic investigation of the intrusion is ongoing and it is continuing to work to strengthen and protect its computer systems.

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