Ars Technica and others are reporting now that the recent data security breach at TJ Maxx is likely the largest in history.

A data breach originally disclosed this January by the parent company of retailer T.J. Maxx could be the largest case of consumer information theft to occur to date. TJX Cos. disclosed in a regulatory filing this week that the company believes that data on at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards was stolen by hackers, and has reason to believe that the actual number could be much higher.

You have to bet CEO Carol Meyrowitz wasn’t having too good a day when she had to post a note on the company web site that starts like this…

As TJX’s President and Chief Executive Officer, I want our customers to know how much I personally regret any difficulties you may experience as a result of the unauthorized intrusion into our computer systems. We are working with leading computer security firms to investigate the problem and enhance our computer security in order to protect our customers’ data.

TJX operates a number of companies – in Canada brands like Winners and HomeSense are most recognized, but they include TJ Maxx, Winners, Marshalls, Homesense, HomeGoods, AJ Wright and Bob’s Stores.

As a consumer, this is a nightmare.

Most of us are crawling with credit cards and we assume retailers take as much care with them as we do.

Reading the Ars Technica story, and the TJX FAQ just adds to the nightmare, since it appears that months went by before they realized what was going on.

All this leads me to wonder how long it will be before we see ads for the “new” safe way to do business:

Just a Big Ole Bag of Cash.