New information released today has confirmed what was suspected: the Home Depot security breach is the largest cyber attack ever, possibly affecting 56 million customers’ payment cards.
As we previously reported, that attack was identified September 2 by a security blog after a large amount of stolen credit card information appeared on black market sites.
Through it’s investigation, Home Depot has found that the criminals used a unique, custom-built malware to evade detection which had not been seen before.
That malware is believed to have been present in Home Depot’s system from April 2014 until September 2014.
The company is offering free identity protection services, including credit monitoring, to customers who used payment cards at a Home Depot store in the U. S. between those dates.
Anyone interested can learn more at www.homedepot.com or by calling 1-800-HOMEDEPOT (800-466-3337). We spoke with the local Kenai branch who said nothing can be done in store for those services, and customers interested should visit the website or call the number provided.
Home Depot has taken additional steps to protect future customer information by rolling out enhanced encryption of payment data to all of it’s U.S. stores as of September 13.