14 DAY TRIAL // TJX Companies Inc. and Visa Inc. have today announced a partnership in order to reimburse nearly $41 million, a huge amount of money, which is supposed to be received by the banks affected by the January data loss. Let me refresh your memory: back in January 2007, TJS made a shocking announcement; some attackers managed to access its database and most consumers' details were stolen. This included credit card information, bank accounts and transactions. In fact, it's all a hacker would dream about, because these details help them get the money, by selling them or by conducting additional illegal activities using the stolen data.
The data loss affected all kinds of customers, including merchants, banks and ordinary clients who saw their private details falling into criminal hands. Numerous banks decided to sue TJX, as it was incredible to see such a weak protection system for a company that manages an impressive amount of private information. But today, TJX and Visa have made the first step for a long-awaited reconciliation: no less than $40.9 million will be paid to the affected banks.
"We believe issuers will benefit greatly by participating in this program because it offers immediate recovery on their data breach claims," said Ellen Richey, head of global risk management for Visa Inc. "This agreement demonstrates the importance of retailers and the payment card industry working together to protect cardholder data. Additionally, it's clear the impact of a data compromise harms all payment system stakeholders -- merchants, banks and consumers alike. We hope one outcome of this resolution is recognition that a greater investment in security is good business", she added.
As a result of the partnership, the banks who sued TJX will drop the lawsuits. All the consumers included in this program will be announced in the next few days, the two companies said. After they receive the notification, the affected clients will have approximately 10 business day to register for the program.
"We've made steady progress in accelerating merchant compliance with PCI standards to protect cardholder information and reduce the cost and impact of fraud. Security is a shared responsibility and this progress demonstrates that many of the largest participants in the system understand their role and responsibility for protecting this information," Ellen Richey added.