Banks allege TJX data breach tops 94M

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- At least 94 million accounts were affected by the theft of personal data from Massachusetts retailer TJX Cos., a banking group alleged in court filings.

The number alleged in the court papers is more than twice as many accounts the Framingham retailer said were affected in what was already the largest data breach in history, the Boston Globe reported Wednesday.

The breach affected about 65 million Visa account numbers and about 29 million MasterCard numbers, according to the filing made Wednesday by a group of banks suing TJX over the costs associated with the breach. The banks cited sealed testimony taken from officials at the credit card networks.

TJX, operating more than 2,500 stores under such names as TJ Maxx and Marshalls, previously said unidentified hackers breached its systems and compromised at least 45.7 million credit and debit card numbers as far back as 2003.

The claims filed by the banks are part of an ongoing legal tussle between TJX and the bank handling its card transactions, Fifth Third of Ohio, and another group of plaintiff institutions.