TJ Max-imum Impact: The big name in privacy breaches

After 54 million private records exposed in 2005, 48 million in 2006, it only took one month, January, for 2007 to set records. The TJX Companies experienced an "unauthorized intrusion" into computer systems that process and store customer transactions including credit card, debit card, check, and merchandise return transactions. While the intrusion was discovered mid-December 2006, it was not announced until January, 2007, and the numbers are staggering:

• 45,700,000 credit and debit card account numbers
• 455,000 merchandise return records containing customer names and driver's license numbers

Apparently this was the result of deliberate hacking, not just a badly configured web server or stolen laptop. But it puts 2007 on track to be the worst year ever for security breaches. Check out the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse chart for 2007.