TK Maxx data theft: UK shoppers at risk

gallery

The company said it had contacted Scotland Yard and the UK Information Commissioner about the breach.

Sandra Quinn, of British payments system Apacs, said in a radio interview the theft was on a scale not heard of before but said much of the lost data would be out of date.

"I'd like to reassure customers that if they were doing transactions with TK Maxx between 2003 and 2004 they will generally now have a brand new debit or credit card in their wallet, so they can be sure that it will be the old details on the card that has been compromised, not their current card," she said.

With credit card issuers tightening their procedures and transferring responsibility for fraud to retailers and customers, the implications for security failures by retailers going forward is set tot be huge in terms of lost reputation and ability to trade.

"This is a frightening illustration that when retailer systems are hacked - even if it occurs on the other side of the world - the card details of customers in every country are at risk because of the way companies share and store information globally" said Jamie Cowper at data security expert PGP. "With standards such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) coming into force in June 2007, retailers such as TJX will have to safeguard its customers' card information - or face losing their credit card facilities altogether."

(Additional reporting by Reuters)

Email to a friend

Print this page