Aside from the 56 million credit cards hacked from Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement chain announced that hackers also compromised 53 million email addresses.
The discovery came after Home Depot did an internal investigation with independent security analysts and law enforcement agencies regarding the credit card breach that happened last Sept. 2.
American Retailer giant experienced a major security issue regarding credit cards last Sept. 2. Involving 56 million credit cards-dubbed as the biggest data breach in retail history.
The breach happened in the U.S. and Canadian stores. Further investigation revealed that malware has compromised Home Depot's payment system. Multiple banks have reported suspicious activity coming from millions of credit and debit cards reportedly sold by Home Depot stores.
According to the report, hackers penetrated the system using stolen credentials from a third-party vendor-which allowed them to access Home Depot's network including its self checkout machines in U.S. an Canada, where they put malicious software in the retail store's system.
Home Depot has removed the malware from the U.S. and Canadian stores and implemented increased security measures that "provide enhanced encryption of payment data at point of sale throughout our U.S. stores," according to the e-mail sent to its customers last September.
Furthermore, It reported that no debit PIN numbers that were revealed or checks that were hacked.
The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer's CEO, Frank Blake apologized "for the frustration and anxiety this may cause you," and expresses their gratitude "for your patience during this time."
The retail industry has been stricken by a "hacking plague" the past quarter, as Target also reported 40 million credit card numbers and personal information of their customers were also stolen. Arts and crafts retail chain Michaels Stores, department store Neiman Marcus and the P.F. Chang's restaurant chain all announced this year they had been hacked, too, with credit card information the goal of the attacks.
