The TJX Companies inc, which operates Marshalls, TJ Maxx and Bob’s Stores, confirmed this week that it illegal intruders to its computer systems had stolen data over the course of several years.
The company reported it had become aware of a breach in December last year and had been cooperating with law enforcement authorities since that time.
It said the security breaches may date as far back as 2003.
The company said the breach occurred in a system that handles credit card, debit card and cheque transactions in the US and Puerto Rico, but may have affected its operations as far away as the UK.
TJX president and chief executive Carol Meyrowitz said in a statement on the company’s web site that it was now working with security consultants to investigate the problem and to enhance its computer security.
“Given the nature of the breach, the size and international scope of our operations and the complexity of the way credit card transactions are processed, the evaluation is, by necessity, taking time,” Ms Meyrowitz said.
“Since we learned of the probability of a breach in mid-December 2006, we have cooperated with law enforcement as well as with the banks and credit card companies that process our customer transactions,” she said.
In addition to the credit card and debit card details, the company said hackers had also stolen drivers licence numbers as well as the personal address details of an unspecified number of customers.
It is thought to be the worst case of credit data theft in history.
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