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Home Depot a Potential Victim of Data Breach (Update: Confirmed)

September 3, 2024         By: Daniel Easley

Home Depot has confirmed that it has suffered a data breach that lasted for as long as five months.

From the period between April until last week, POS systems in stores located in the U.S. and Canada may have been compromised, said Home Depot spokeswoman, Paula Drake, while the online business was not affected.

The number of affected individuals could reach 60 million, making it one of, if not the largest breaches in history.

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Original article below:

Home Depot is warning customers about a potential data breach that could affect millions.

According to a statement posted on the company’s website, Home Depot is working with law enforcement authorities to investigate some unusual activity that suggested a breach had taken place.

The statement assures customers that, if a breach is found, they will be offered identity protection services free of charge, and that “the financial institution that issued your card or Home Depot are responsible for [fraudulent] charges should we confirm a breach.”

While determining whether an attack indeed took place, Home Depot apologizes and encourages its customers to keep a close eye on their accounts. Any suspicious activity should be reported to the card issuers themselves. Customers will be notified once a breach has been confirmed.

The fourth largest retailer in the U.S. is just the latest victim in a series of high profile data breaches - Target Corp., Neiman Marcus Group Ltd., and P.F. Chang’s Bistro all having suffered recent attacks. Target reported that it has so far spent $146 million cleaning up the fallout from its breach.

The news could reverse recent good results for the retailer. Home Depot reported a nearly 6% increase in sales over its last quarter. Home Depot stock was trading down 1% from its market opening of $91.11.

The attack occurs despite Home Depot’s concerted efforts to curb credit card fraud. New EMV credit card computer chip reading technology has been installed on Home Depot’s card terminals, although they have not yet been activated. The technology may not have prevented the breach, however, as most consumers are still using old magnetic stripe cards.

Seth Ruden, Senior Fraud Consultant at ACI Worldwide stated “Similar attacks on merchants will likely continue until we remove the magnetic stripe from being the primary mechanism of data transfer in card-present transactions. This breach, like the others before it, should serve to increase the pressure to migrate to the EMV chip card standard and help to reinforce the need that we have for stepped-up security in payments, especially in the US, where we currently lag behind our peers.”