Tjx Companies
TJX Companies
Jim Blackwood
IT/205
January-9th, 2013
Gelonda Martin
TJX Companies
The TJC Corporation failed to protect its customers by allowing one of the largest security breaches in history. In 2007 they announced that an unauthorized user had accessed their system and compromised over 40 million customers’ data such as credit cards, debit cards and personal pin numbers. TJX was using an older security protocol called WEP which had proven to be easy to access by hackers and had failed to install or properly install other layers of security that had been recommended. They also transmitted data to the credit card companies failing to use proper encryption. They compounded their mistakes by holding on to customer data past the time that was normal within industry standards. Had TJX used the newer more secure WPA with a greater level of encryption they could have avoided the situation or at least not allowed it to carry on for seventeen months before it was detected. The losses to consumers ranges in the hundreds of millions of dollars and is estimated that it will cost TJX over a billion dollars in restitution, fines, penalties and marketing to reassure their customers when all the dust settles. TJX put their bottom line above protecting their customer’s information and it cost them a substantial amount of money to rectify the situation along with the lack of trust that customers felt towards them after learning of the situation.
References and Citations
(2010, 12). Tjx Security Breach. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 12, 2010, from
Jim Blackwood
IT/205
January-9th, 2013
Gelonda Martin
TJX Companies
The TJC Corporation failed to protect its customers by allowing one of the largest security breaches in history. In 2007 they announced that an unauthorized user had accessed their system and compromised over 40 million customers’ data such as credit cards, debit cards and personal pin numbers. TJX was using an older security protocol called WEP which had proven to be easy to access by hackers and had failed to install or properly install other layers of security that had been recommended. They also transmitted data to the credit card companies failing to use proper encryption. They compounded their mistakes by holding on to customer data past the time that was normal within industry standards. Had TJX used the newer more secure WPA with a greater level of encryption they could have avoided the situation or at least not allowed it to carry on for seventeen months before it was detected. The losses to consumers ranges in the hundreds of millions of dollars and is estimated that it will cost TJX over a billion dollars in restitution, fines, penalties and marketing to reassure their customers when all the dust settles. TJX put their bottom line above protecting their customer’s information and it cost them a substantial amount of money to rectify the situation along with the lack of trust that customers felt towards them after learning of the situation.
References and Citations
(2010, 12). Tjx Security Breach. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 12, 2010, from