The TJX data breach affected more than 94 million credit and debit card accounts, more than twice the number acknowledged by the big retailer, a group of banks allege in a new court filing.

TJX has previously acknowledged that 45.7 million card numbers were stolen in data breaches beginning in 2005. But a group of banks suing TJX over the costs of the breach claimed in a Tuesday court filing that the real total includes 65 million Visa account numbers and 29 million MasterCard numbers, the Boston Globe reported. The banks based this estimate on “sealed testimony taken from officials at” Visa and MasterCard, the report says.

The court filing estimates damages to banks and other institutions that issued stolen Visa cards at $68 million to $83 million.

A spokeswoman for Fifth Third of Ohio, a bank that handled many TJX transactions, acknowledged filing the new court documents in U.S. District Court in Boston, but didn’t discuss the case in detail.

Joining Fifth Third in the lawsuit are the Massachusetts Bankers Association and other plaintiffs, the Globe said. The banks are claiming TJX mishandled security.

Bruce Spitzer, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bankers Association, confirmed that the details revealed by the Boston Globe are accurate, but said “there’s not a lot we’re saying about [the case publicly], though.”

A settlement offer TJX made to appease data breach victims includes credit monitoring and identity theft insurance – but only for 455,000 customers. 

TJX has also offered $30 store vouchers to customers who lost time or money due to the theft of card data, and said it will hold a three-day sale for all customers in which prices will be reduced by 15%.

Whitepapers

• Gene Kim's Practical Steps to Mitigate Virtualization Security Risks
• Selecting Effective Virtual Directories
• A Modern Approach to On-Demand Email and Data Security
• Best Practices for HP Servers and HP Enterprise Virtual Array in a Microsoft Exchange
• Compliance, Protection, Recovery: A Layered Approach to Laptop Security
• Endpoint Security: Data Protection for IT, Freedom for Laptop Users

View more SECURITY whitepapers

Webcasts

• Key Considerations for a Successful 802.11n Deployment
• Solutions to the Toughest IT Challenges in Remote Offices
• Lowering the Cost of Email Archives
• High Availability for SQL Server 2005 Using Array-Based Replication and Host-Based Mirroring Technologies
• Technical Overview of Exchange Server 2007 with HP Servers and Storage
• Bringing Order and Security to your Mobile Workforce: Corporate Mobility Policy and Device Management On-Demand

View more SECURITY webcasts

Special Reports

• The Evolution of Network Security
• Taking Virtualization Up a Notch
• Learn how to Keep your Mobile Workforce Connected
• The self-managed network

View more SECURITY special reports