Home Depot Hack Compromised 56 Million Credit Cards

A few weeks back Home Depot confirmed that it was investigating a potential breach of its point-of-sale system and that there was a possibility that credit and debits cards may have been compromised. Some reports suggested that the retailer had been hit by the same malware that was used in the Target hack, albeit a much more refined and improved version. Considerable damage has been done as the Home Depot hack resulted in over 56 million credit and debit cards being compromised.

Home Depot’s investigation has revealed that this malware was present on its PoS system between April and September 2014. The retailer itself has reached on the 56 million figure and acknowledges that payment card information for all of them has been put at risk.

After a significant cleanup operation Home Depot now says that the method of entry that hackers used has now been closed off and that the malware has been completely removed from its systems. Moreover Home Depot has also rolled out enhanced encrypted for all payment data across all of its stores in the U.S. Stores across Canada will see the roll out of enhanced encryption being completed by the end of next year.

While Home Depot does say that card data was compromised it doesn’t believe that PIN numbers were stolen as well. It found no evidence to suggest that customers who shopped at stores in Mexico or through HomeDepot.com and HomeDepot.ca were hit as well.

Any customer who used a payment card at any Home Depot store in 2014 from April onwards in entitled to free identity protection services which includes credit monitoring, those who want to take advantage of this service can find out more at the retailer’s website.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: cyberattacks, Hacking