Home Depot Says 56 Million Cards at Risk, Eliminates Responsible Malware (Sept. 22, 2014)
After Home Depot confirmed earlier this month it was the victim of a customer data breach affecting shoppers at its U.S. and Canadian stores, the home improvement retailer confirmed late last week that as many as 56 million payment cards are at risk. The total surpasses the 40 million card numbers affected by Target’s data breach. Home Depot also announced Friday it eliminated the responsible malicious software, or malware, from its U.S. and Canadian networks. The company also completed a payment security project, providing enhanced encryption of payment data at the POS in the company’s U.S. stores, with roll-out of enhanced encryption to Canadian stores to be completed early next year.
The retailer estimates the incident resulted in approximately $62 million in costs for the investigation, credit monitoring services to customers and legal services, among other expenses, with insurance covering about $27 million. Home Depot reiterated it has no evidence debit PIN numbers were compromised or that consumers shopping at HomeDepot.com or in its Mexico locations have been affected.
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