ABC news has listed the card data security breaches at Heartland Payment Systems and TJX as among the top seven "tech disasters" of the past ten years.

The network said Heartland "could be the largest credit card crime in history" and listed TJX's late 2006 breach as important because it served as a "wake up call" for how vulnerable retailers can be to card security breaches.

Other tech disasters listed included the recent loss of cell phone owners date by T-Mobile and Microsoft; the loss of disks with confidential information of 25 million residents of the United Kingdom by the British Government; the theft of a laptop with the data from 17.5 million veterans on it from the Veterans Administration of the U.S. Government; the failed batteries that in 2006 caused Dell laptops to burst into flame and the widespread blackout of 2003.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.