TJX settles with 41 attorneys general for computer breach

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – TJX Cos., owner of the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls chains, will pay $9.75 million to resolve an investigation by 41 state attorneys general of an intrusion into the company’s computer system in 2005 and 2006, Bloomberg News reported last week.
TJX will pay $2.5 million to start a fund for the states, including Rhode Island, to improve data security, and $7.25 million as a settlement and to cover costs of the investigations, the retailer said in a statement.
In 2007, TJX discovered criminals had obtained thousands of its customers’ cardholder data, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a statement. Last year, the U.S. Justice Department charged 11 people after TJX cooperated with federal authorities investigating how its computer network was broken into, the company said. TJX said it didn’t violate any consumer-protection or data-security laws.
The settlement will allow TJX and the attorneys general to take “leadership roles in exploring new technologies and approaches to solving the systemic problems in the U.S. payment-card industry,” Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Naylor said in the retailer’s statement.
Massachusetts, California, New York and Pennsylvania are also involved in the settlement. &#8226