Information Security News: TJX sued by shareholder over records

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8O05AT80.htm

The Associated Press  
March 20, 2007

A big shareholder of TJX Cos. has filed a lawsuit to obtain records 
showing how the retailer handled computer problems that exposed customer 
information to hackers.

Arkansas Carpenters Pension Fund, which owns 4,500 shares of TJX stock, 
said the company rebuffed its request to see documents detailing the 
safeguards on the company's computer systems and how the company 
responded to the theft of customer data.

The suit was filed Monday afternoon in Delaware's Court of Chancery, 
under a law that allows shareholders to sue to get access to corporate 
documents for certain purposes.

Court papers state the Arkansas pension fund wants the records to see 
whether TJX's board has been doing its job properly in overseeing the 
company's handling of customer data.

A spokeswoman for the Framingham, Mass.-based seller of off-price 
clothing and housewares wasn't immediately available to comment on the 
lawsuit.

Exactly how much TJX customer data was exposed to thieves hasn't been 
revealed. However, TJX's public statements on its own probe indicate the 
trouble was more widespread than originally believed.

Banks nationwide said they would reissue cards after TJX said in 
December that customer information had been stolen from its computer 
network.

On Feb. 21, TJX issued updated findings based on its own investigation 
of unauthorized intrusions into its computer systems and said they go 
back as far as 2005. The company said the hacking stopped sometime after 
mid-December 2006, when it was discovered.

Besides customer data, portions of credit and debit card transactions at 
U.S., Puerto Rican and Canadian stores from January 2003 through June 
2004 were compromised, TJX said.

Also compromised as far back as 2003 were drivers license numbers, with 
names and addresses, of customers who returned merchandise without a 
receipt, the company said in February.

Shares of TJX rose 31 cents, or 1.2 percent, to close Tuesday at $26.54 
on the New York Stock Exchange.


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