Hack cost TK Maxx $118 million
Data breach clean-up costs big and getting bigger.
By Ellen Messmer, Network World | Network World US | Published: 01:58, 16 August 2007
TJX Companies, owner of the TJ Maxx and TK Maxx retail chains, now estimates a data theft earlier this year has cost it $118 million.
The news came in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing yesterday. In an earlier filing, TJX Companies, had tallied the cost of the network break-ins at about $20 million, though it noted that figure could go higher.
TJX said yesterday it has more clearly determined "its potential liability from the computer intrusion(s) and recorded an after-tax charge of $118 million."
TJX CEO Carol Meyrowitz noted in the filing: "We have continued to learn more about the computer intrusion(s) and are now able to estimate the company's liability."
The attackers, still at large, stole about 47.5 million credit card numbers in 2005 and another 130,000 last year. Some analysts, including Gartner's Avivah Litan, have said they consider TJX to be the biggest known victim of data theft.
On the upside, TJX also said in its latest SEC filing that its net sales for the quarter jumped 9 percent to $4.3 billion, despite any brand damage it may have suffered.
