Polo plugs security hole

Polo Ralph Lauren said on Friday that it has fixed a computer-security problem that may have exposed customers' credit card numbers to data thieves. The company, which learned of the problem last fall, said it has purged credit card information from its store systems that "may have been misappropriated" and is working with the police on an investigation.

At least two banks, HSBC Holdings in London and Citigroup in New York, have notified more than 180,000 cardholders that had shopped at the chain about the potential breach, advising some of them to close their accounts and open new ones, according a report last week in the Wall Street Journal.

The incident is one of the latest in a string of high-profile, consumer-data theft cases. Major credit card companies, including Visa USA and MasterCard International, are now banding together to force merchants and their banks to better protect credit card information.