In a move that could save it tens of millions of dollars in lawsuit damages, TJX Companies Inc. says it will pay up to $40.9m to Visa card issuers who may have been affected by a massive data breach disclosed by the retailer in January.
Under an agreement reached with Visa U.S.A. Inc., TJX said it will compensate banks that issued Visa payment cards potentially affected by the computer breach if they, in turn, agree not to sue the retailer over the breach.
Affected banks have until Dec 19 to accept the offer. Those that do so will be compensated by month's end, the company said in a statement today.The TJX breach is the worst ever involving the loss of cardholder data. The company, which owns brands such as T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Bob's Stores, has admitted that about 45 million cards were compromised in a computer intrusion that remained undetected for more than 18 months. But court documents filed in connection with lawsuits against TJX claim that the retailer lost over 94 million cards, the vast majority of which were Visa payment cards.
Source: Computerworld, http://computerworld.com