Will definitely have to keep an eye on my wife's Home Depot card,as well as continue to monitor her credit report.I haven't puchased anything there in person in over a year.I've only purchased a few things through their website over these last few months.I am hoping,for our sakes,this is just simply related to the POS terminals.Either way,we will be prepared.May just cancel the card as it's barely ever used.

Thanks Yegor!  What astonished me is that more and more of the larger stores have done little to improve/enhance their security,  I mean, seriously after Heartbleed and the Target breach you would hope they'd have their systems locked down.

Target, Home Depot who's next? I think I'll make it a practice now to go to my bank and withdraw money for the week to pay for things that we buy in stores. It's getting to the point where you can't trust the plastic card anymore.
Btw we don't shop at Home Depot anymore since they lowered the discount to Active and Retired Military. We shop at Lowes.
Military Discount all stores:
Lowes: First $5,000.00 -- 10% discount = $500.00 off
Home Depot: First $500.00 -- 10% discount = $50.00 off.
 
Home Depot was the same as Lowes until the change about a year ago.

@ wrote:
I would hope with all these breaches at major retailers,people might begin to change their way of thinking,and start paying cash at every opportunity.I'd like to see retailers encourage cash payment by maybe a miniscule discount,maybe equivalent to 50% of what they would have paid for a swipe.The retailer would still come out ahead in that case.

All the stores don't want to give up all that valuable marketing info though :)
 
That reminds me - if you're ever at a store that has a loyalty card that lets you use a phone number if you don't have your card on you, just use 867-5309 (with any area code) and it will work.  

That sound useful I have to try that one out, Ever since the target hack i have been buying stuff by cash, but one thing crossed my mind at the store if everyone uses the cash method then they will attack the banks and go for account numbers so my money really is not safe.

@ wrote:
Target, Home Depot who's next? I think I'll make it a practice now to go to my bank and withdraw money for the week to pay for things that we buy in stores. It's getting to the point where you can't trust the plastic card anymore.
Btw we don't shop at Home Depot anymore since they lowered the discount to Active and Retired Military. We shop at Lowes.
Military Discount all stores:
Lowes: First $5,000.00 -- 10% discount = $500.00 off
Home Depot: First $500.00 -- 10% discount = $50.00 off.
 
Home Depot was the same as Lowes until the change about a year ago.

Who's next is a great question... sadly, the answer is most likely anyone.
 
We all remember the sense of false security that Mac users ( sorry @ ) and others felt.  Spam, viruses, etc. were always a Windows / PC problem.  Well that sure changed, right? And still no one - well, most people it seems - wants to be "bothered" with taking a few extra steps and precautions to protect themselves and/or their investments.
 
I'm currently logged onto to a PC in the computer lab at school.  They're running IE9.  The Symantec Endpoint protection is using definitions from 2009!! 2009? Seriously, here's a fun project for someone in the community... How many viruses, PUAs, security breaches etc. have occured in the past 5 years? Short answer = ALOT!
 
At this point in time, IMHO, anyone that chooses NOT to be proactive in protecting their PC deserves whatever slow performance, data breach or blue screen of death that they get.

The following article is a update on Home Depot Breach

(Home Depot Credit Card Breach May Affect All U.S. Locations)

 
By Jeff Goldman  |  Posted September 05, 2014
 
According to investigative reporter Brian Krebs, an apparent credit card breach at Home Depot may impact customers at almost all of the company's approximately 2,200 stores nationwide.
On September 2, 2014, Krebs reported that sources at several banks had told him Home Depot stores may be the source of a massive new batch of stolen credit and debit card forums that had gone on sale that morning on an underground forum.
"There are signs that the perpetrators of this apparent breach may be the same group of Russian and Ukrainian hackers responsible for the data breaches at Target, Sally Beauty and P.F. Chang's, among others," Krebs wrote at the time, noting that the breach may extend as far back as late April or early May 2014 and could well be significantly larger than the Target breach in late 2013.
 
eSecurityPlanet/ full article here/ http://www.esecurityplanet.com/network-security/home-depot-credit-card-breach-may-affect-all-u.s.-locations.html
 

Looks like Home Depot finally admits its payment systems were breached. And it's been going on for months! From the TechCrunch article: 
 
"Six days later, the company has at last publicly confirmed that the “suspicious activity” was a breach of their payments system. Credit card data was exposed, though Home Depot is quick to note that PINs were not. If you used a credit card at Home Depot in the past 4-5 months, you should consider it stolen."
 

 
(Source: TechCrunch)
 
 

The following article is a update on Home Depot Breach
(The Home Depot acknowledges payment systems breach)

• By Mihaita Bamburic  Posted on 9/9/2014

http://betanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/hacker-credit-card-600x400.jpg
The Home Depot is the latest US retailer to fall victim to a major payment systems hack, which may have exposed its customers' credit card data since April of this year. The security breach is linked to its US and Canadian retail locations, but not its online store or Mexican chain.
The breach is publicly acknowledged by The Home Depot, with the company's CEO apologizing for what is yet another security disaster. "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", says Frank Blake. "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".
 To appease customers who may have been affected by the security breach, The Home Depot is giving those who used a payment card at its retail locations, after April 2014, identity protection services for free. This includes credit monitoring, according to the information provided by the company
 
betanews/ full article here/ http://betanews.com/2014/09/09/the-home-depot-acknowledges-payment-systems-breach/
 

Thanks Anthony!  Luckily I only used a.gift card on my latest visit 😉

The following article is a update on Home Depot Breach
 

(Why retailers like Home Depot get hacked)

 
By Antone Gonsalves  Posted on 9/16/2014
 
Retailers like Home Depot, which recently suffered a major data breach, have known for years about vulnerabilities in payment systems, but have chosen to ignore them, experts say.
Home Depot decided only in January to buy technology that fully encrypts payment card data the moment a card is swiped, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The home improvement retailer launched the project in order to avoid a breach on the scale of Target's.
 

 
 
InforWorld/ full article here/ http://www.infoworld.com/article/2683915/security/why-retailers-like-home-depot-get-hacked.html
 

and now for your financial market news ;)
 
Home Depot: 56 million cards exposed in breach

Stolen credit card price tag: $102

By Melvin Backman@CNNTech
September 18, 2014: 5:56 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Home Depot confirmed Thursday that hackers exposed 56 million credit and debit cards during its months-long security breach.
 
The company also said it had eliminated the malware behind the attack from its payment systems.
 
Card readers that encountered the malware, which Home Depot said was a custom strain its security team had never seen before, were removed from service. The company is also beefing up its payment data encryption capabilities and other security measures.
[ Full story from CNN Money >> ]