Home Depot Overview

The possible data breach at Home Depot was first reported by Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security, a website that focuses on cybersecurity. Krebs said multiple banks reported "evidence that Home Depot stores may be the source of a massive new batch of stolen credit and debit cards" that went on sale on the black market earlier Tuesday.


Krebs reported that it's not clear how many stores were affected but preliminary analysis indicates the breach may have affected all 2,200 Home Depot stores in the U.S. Several banks that were contacted said they believe the breach may have started in late April or early May. 

"If that is accurate -- and if even a majority of Home Depot stores were compromised -- this breach could be many times larger than Target, which had 40 million credit and debit cards stolen over a three-week period," said the Krebs post. 

Krebs said that the party responsible for the breach may be the same group of Russian and Ukrainian hackers suspected in the Target breach late last year. Krebs also broke the news of Target's breach. 

UPDATE: SLC Security Services LLC has learned that the former Lead Security Engineer for Home Depot was convicted of sabotaging the security of his previous employers network. - Source Slate Media 

Ricky Joe Mitchell is now serving a 4 year jail sentence in Federal prison.  

UPDATE: A Canadian class action lawsuit has been filed by Home Depot of Canada Inc., and its American parent, The Home Depot Inc., following the recent disclosure by the home improvement retailer that an estimated 56 million payment cards were exposed in a data breach at its U.S. and Canadian stores 

UPDATE: Fraudulent transactions have started to appear in the wake of a massive data breach at Home Depot that affected approximately 56 million debit and credit cards, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. People familiar with the breach said the fraudulent transactions are showing up across the United States, and in some cases money has been drained from customer's bank accounts, according to the article in The Wall Street Journal.The article said stolen information is being used to buy prepaid cards, electronics and even groceries.

UPDATE: Hackers slash prices on cards stolen in Home Depot data breach in Wisconsin