Bargain-hunters not worried about identity theft 

MacMillan's assurance seemed hardly necessary as Canadians continued bargain-hunting at the two national retail chain outlets across Canada, undeterred by the news of possible ID theft.

Bargains at Winners simply make the risk of becoming a victim of credit card fraud worthwhile, said Sherry Croney as she slowly sifted through the blouse racks at one of the chain's huge stores in downtown Toronto. Croney said she never uses her credit card when clothes shopping, and even if she did, a security breach wouldn't stop her.

"The prices (are) unbelievable," she said. "You see really nice stuff that you'd normally see for like one-hundred-and-something and it's excellent."

Annie Warthell, who uses her credit card on a regular basis when buying clothing or household decorations at the Winners' chain, wasn't bothered by the breach. "I've always been in the habit of checking my statements," Warthell said, pushing an overflowing cart at the downtown Winners store. "As long as I do that, why should I have to deprive myself of shopping at a place I love?"

With customer loyalty like that, who needs computer security?

Fortunately many Canadian officials are not taking as lax an attitude towards the situation, which came to light several weeks ago after the TJX, the American parent company for Winners and Home Sense Canada, announced they had uncovered a massive security breach in their transaction servers. Millions of customers in the United States, Canada and Great Britain had sensitive credit card and financial information stolen by hackers during a six-month attack that ran undetected from May to mid-December of 2006.

Canada's privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, and Alberta's information and privacy commissioner, Frank Work, are investigating how TJX's database was breached and how it affects Canadians who shopped at their stores.

"I am profoundly concerned about incidents of this nature that put at risk individuals' personal information," Stoddart said in a release this week. Stoddart wants financial institutions and corporations to be required by law to notify their customers when a security breach takes place. She is proposing changes to Canadian federal privacy laws.

Work said he is concerned about the type of information and the length of time it is held. "Some of the information that was breached dates back to 2003, and I would like to know what kind of information is collected," Work said.

Another Canadian retailer, Club Monaco, has also revealed that it was investigating a possible security breach involving the credit-card numbers of its customers. The company has not yet been able to identify the full extent of the unauthorized intrusion.

What's the big fuss about Identity theft in Canada?