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DAVID PADDON
Canadian Press
TORONTO — A computer security breach at the U.S. company that owns the Winners and HomeSense retail chains in Canada began last May, months before the company detected it in December and made the problem public earlier this week.
A spokeswoman for TJX Co. of Framingham, Mass., which owns Winners and HomeSense, said Friday the company remains restricted in what it can reveal because of ongoing criminal investigations but said there has been some confusion in media reports about how long ago customer information may have been compromised.
“Our discovery of it was in mid-December. We believe (the breach) happened in mid-May of ‘06,†TJX spokeswoman Sherry Lang said.
Information from mid-May 2006 through December, 2006, and from 2003 may have been accessed by the intruder, but “it’s not like there’s someone in there since 2003.â€
That data is only at potential risk, Ms. Lang said.
“There’s another group of data that we have more specific information on that, indeed, was taken from the system. And that we have not put dates around, at this time, †Lang said. “I apologize for the complexity, but it is what it is.â€
A TJX press release, issued Wednesday to alert the public, only said the breach had been detected in mid-December and that the company had waited several weeks to disclose the problem at the request of law enforcement officials.
“We’re really trying our hardest to be as open as we can and to share as much information as we can,†Ms. Lang said.
She said there “is a small group of people in the United States†that TJX has contacted directly because their names were known and the company may contact other customers if it can.
She advised customers to contact their banks and credit card companies, which will be responsible for telling shoppers if they’ve been fraud victims.
Bank and credit card companies have said they’re monitoring cardholders’ accounts, looking for suspicious activity, but advise individuals to carefully monitor their statements as a regular habit and call the card issuers if warrants.
Visa and MasterCard also say they have a policy to fully financially protect cardholders who are the victims of fraud.
Ms. Lang said she couldn’t answer questions about whether the breach was done by repeatedly accessing the system or if a monitoring device had been put in place.
“It’s a great question and I can’t answer it because that is now part of the criminal investigation.â€
She also said TJX doesn’t know who the intruder was and “beyond that, it goes to the criminal investigation and I can’t talk about it.â€
The company has set up customer alerts at www.winners.ca and www.homesense.ca with tips for customers, including a toll-free hotline set up by the company at 1-866-484-6978.
There are 184 Winners stores across Canada that sell clothing, shoes and home-decor items at discount prices, and more than 68 HomeSense stores that specialize in home decor.
In the United States, the company owns T.J. Maxx and Marshalls discount stores.
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