Robert Siciliano discusses a data breach at TJX stores (TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, A.J. Wright) where hackers stole customer return information including names, addresses, and driver's licenses. TJX hired IBM and General Dynamics to investigate and notified affected customers. Siciliano explains the identity theft risks and what consumers should do to protect themselves.
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We begin tonight with TJX. There's been a lot of confusion and some anger surrounding the recent theft of consumer data from the Framingham, Massachusetts parent of TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and other discount retailers.
The bad news is that hackers were able to obtain names, addresses, and driver's licenses of a relatively small number of people who returned merchandise at TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and A.J. Wright stores.
Security expert Robert Siciliano says these customers are at risk of identity theft because thieves can match that info with publicly available Social Security numbers to buy products and services over the internet, or they'll broker, they'll resell that data to others who will actually create credit cards and then go to the brick-and-mortar buildings and buy products right at the place of business.
The independent security expert agrees with TJX that it needed time to patch the breach without alerting hackers to the vulnerability. Siciliano also argues it would have been foolish to unnecessarily alarm consumers without knowing which customers were at risk and to what extent.
If you have a small pan fire but you're able to extinguish it on your own, there's no sense in calling the fire department with— in for them to come down with the hook and ladder if you're able to take care of it yourself.
TJX has hired security experts IBM and General Dynamics, though it has not discovered the identity of the intruder. TJX is notifying those who returned merchandise and therefore have a vulnerability to ID theft because they have, uh, names, addresses, and driver's licenses. They're getting special letters, they're getting a special hotline set up for them. For the majority people though, they're expected to listen to news reports like this, to go to the website and see these ads, because these folks are not vulnerable to ID theft, at least according to the company. And so at this point it's up to those folks, and those folks should be careful, contact their credit card companies, and that's the best way those folks should deal with this. Mark Fettell tonight. Thank you. Sure.
