ATLANTA -- The Home Depot has confirmed that its payment data systems have been breached, which could potentially affect customers using payment cards at its U.S. and Canadian stores. There is no evidence that the breach has affected stores in Mexico or customers who shopped online at HomeDepot.com.
While the company continues to determine the full scope, scale and impact of the breach, there is no evidence that hackers compromised debit-card PIN numbers, the company said.
The investigation began on Sept. 2, immediately after the company received reports from its banking partners and law enforcement that criminals may have hacked its payment data systems. Since then, the company's internal IT security team has been working with IT security firms, its banking partners and the U.S. Secret Service to gather facts and provide information to customers.
Home Depot's investigation is focused on April forward, and the company has taken aggressive steps to address the malware and protect customer data.
The Home Depot is offering free identity protection services, including credit monitoring, to any customer who used a payment card at a Home Depot store since April 2014.
"We apologize for the frustration and anxiety this causes our customers, and I want to thank them for their patience and support as we work through this issue," said Frank Blake, chairman and CEO. "We owe it to our customers to alert them that we now have enough evidence to confirm that a breach has indeed occurred. It's important to emphasize that no customers will be responsible for fraudulent charges to their accounts."
Responding to the increasing threat of cyber-attacks on the retail industry, The Home Depot previously confirmed it will roll out the EMV (EuroPay, MasterCard and Visa) standard for integrated circuit (IC) cards--also called Chip and PIN--to all U.S. stores by the end of this year, in advance of the Oct. 2015 deadline established by the payments industry.
The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,266 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. In fiscal 2013, The Home Depot had sales of $78.8 billion and earnings of $5.4 billion.
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