I still find it absolutely shocking that TJ Maxx and its subsidiaries decided to keep this under wraps for a couple of months before stating a public announcement. You can imagine that while some of the victims in this were able to get everything back, others are not so fortunate. That being said, one thing you can come out of with this is the following:

Use your credit cards more often. Yeah, that may sound bizarre but if you think about it, it can be a safer alternative of debit cards. First, you have a credit limit, which means that identity thieves can only spend a certain amount and second, banks seem to be able to restore lost funds to a credit card much easier than a debit card.

BOSTON - A hacker or hackers stole data from at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards of shoppers at off-price retailers including T.J. Maxx and Marshalls in a case believed to be the largest such breach of consumer information.

For the first time since disclosing the theft more than two months ago, the parent company of nearly 2,500 discount stores put a number on how much card data was compromised — and it’s a number TJX Cos. acknowledges could go still higher.

Experts say TJX’s disclosures in a regulatory filing late Wednesday revealed security holes that persist at many firms entrusted with consumer data: failure to promptly delete data on customer transactions, and to guard secrets about how such data is protected through encryption.[more]

Tags: Identity Theft