1.4 million hit in massive data theft

The company issued a statement today detailing the theft that apparently occurred between November 2004 and February this year.

Although no PIN numbers or addresses were stolen DSW has nevertheless had to notify all the major credit card companies and all the customers it could. A process the company said took a long time because DSW does not obtain address information in the normal course of a purchase transaction.

108 DSW stores were affected, but the worst hit was in Miami, Florida.

"If you shopped at our store located at our Miami, FL area Dadeland store during the last two years and you used a credit card, debit card or check to pay for your purchase, your information was most likely included in the stolen information," the company statement said.

Company spokesperson Rob Whitehouse said further information on the theft was not yet available, including exactly how the information was accessed and the extent of monetary loss incurred. But DSW did assure its customers it was working with a computer security firm to "prevent re-occurrence of the data theft."

Earlier this month, a further investigation into a security breach at LexisNexis revealed that thieves may have stolen personal information about 310,000 people, many more than the 30,000 initially reported last month