A multi-state settlement, led by the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, has been reached with Framingham-based TJX Cos. over the massive data breach that placed thousands of consumers’ personal data at risk, nationwide in January 2007.
The Assurance of Discontinuance between the parties, filed in Suffolk Superior Court today, resolves claims relating to TJX’s failure to appropriately protect its customers’ financial information.
TJX has agreed to pay $9.75 million to the states and to implement and maintain a comprehensive information security program, designed to safeguard consumer data and address any weaknesses in TJX’s systems in place at the time of the breach.
Under the terms of the settlement, Massachusetts will receive approximately $951,000 to aid efforts to protect consumers’ personally-identifiable information and to cover the costs of the investigation. TJX cooperated fully with the investigation.
"Protecting consumers’ personally identifiable information is of paramount importance to prevent fraudulent use of credit and identity theft," Coakley said. "All retailers and companies that hold or use personally identifiable information must employ data security systems that guard against the improper disclosure or use of that information. This settlement ensures that companies cannot write-off the risk of a data breach as a cost of doing business. In addition to the monetary relief, this agreement requires TJX to implement and maintain a substantial data security program to ensure that this kind of data breach does not happen again."
Coakley’s office led an executive committee, which included Assistant Attorneys General in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Vermont.
The 41 states participating in today’s agreement are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
