Home Depot confirmed on Monday that its payment data system has been compromised. The retailer giant stated that security breach may have affected all of its branches in the U.S. and Canada, Tech Times reported.
After law enforcement agencies and banking partners warned Home Depot that it may have been a victim of a cyber attack, the retailer launched an investigation on the possible breach on Sept. 2. Home Depot's own IT department partnered with other tech security firms to investigate the incident.
One of the tech firms, KrebsOnSecurity, revealed that Home Depot store registers have been infected with BlackPOS. This is a type of malware designed to copy information from cards used on purchases.
Although the store is not yet sure as to how many people have been affected by the attack, Home Depot stated that customers who have been using credit and debit cards in its U.S. and Canada branches since April of this year may be at risk, according to Washington Post.
Due to the findings of the investigation, Home Depot started offering services such as credit monitoring to protect the identities of its customers.
"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," Home Depot's CEO and chairman Frank Blake said in a press release.
"We owe it to our customers to alert them that we now have enough evidence to confirm that a breach has occurred," he added.
Blake also clarified that Home Depot is not responsible for the fraudulent charges that will appear on the accounts of customers.
Security reporter Brian Krebs believes the attack on Home Depot may have been orchestrated by Russian or Ukrainian hackers.
"Protecting our customers' information is something we take extremely seriously, and we are aggressively gathering facts at this point while working to protect customers," Home Depot spokesperson Paula Drake said in a statement.