The Home Depot corporate headquarters is seen, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014, in Atlanta. Home Depot may be the latest retailer to suffer a credit card data breach. The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer told The Associated Press Tuesday that it is looking into “unusual activity” and that working with both banks and law enforcement. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Home Depot confirmed Sept. 2 that it was working with investigators to assess a potential massive data breach that may have exposed customer payment information.
The breach was first reported by cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, who said that multiple banks reported that the store may have been the source of “a massive batch of stolen credit and debit card” numbers which appeared on black market websites.
According toonline news source VentureBeat, the perpetrators of the breach may be the same group of Russian and Ukrainian hackers also responsible for hacking other businesses such as Target, P.F. Chang’s and many others.
Krebs said that the hackers may have had access to Home Depot’s computer system since May of this year.
In a statement, Home Depot spokesperson Paula Drake confirmed that Home Depot is looking into some “unusual activity,” and once they are certain that a breach occurred, customers will be notified as soon as possible.
This Aug. 14, 2012 file photo shows a Home Depot store in Nashville, Tenn. On Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014, the home improvement retailer said that it’s looking into “unusual activity” and that it’s working with both banks and law enforcement after suspicions of a credit card data breach. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
“At this point, I can confirm that we’re looking into some unusual activity and we are working with our banking partners and law enforcement to investigate,” Drake said. “Protecting our customers’ information is something we take extremely seriously, and we are aggressively gathering facts at this point while working to protect customers. If we confirm that a breach has occurred, we will make sure customers are notified immediately. Right now, for security reasons, it would be inappropriate for us to speculate further. We will provide further information as soon as possible.”
According to CNN, if the perpetrators have in fact had access to Home Depot’s system since the spring, the breach could turn out to be larger than that which affected Target.
Since last December, U.S. retailer Target has been the victim of a series of harmful Trojan malware which is said to have exposed more than 40 million of its customers’ credit and debit cards, and led to more than $100 million in fraudulent charges. The aftermath of the Target breach led to the resignation of its CEO, Gregg Steinhafel.
