Home Depot Hack May Have Hit Mostly Self-Checkout Lanes

Home Depot released specifics on its security breach today, and it was indeed bigger than the breach at Target: The hardware chain says 56 million credit cards were compromised between April and September at stores in the US and Canada, compared with 40 million in the Target hack, reports USA Today. The respected tech site Krebs on Security reports an interesting twist: Hackers may have hit mostly self-checkout terminals. The report stressed, however, that the investigation isn't complete.

Home Depot says that only credit cards were affected, not debit cards, too, and that it has removed the malware used by hackers as well all affected terminals. “We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and anxiety this has caused, and want to reassure them that they will not be liable for fraudulent charges,” says Home Depot chief Frank Blake in a statement picked up by PC World. Still, shoppers in Canada already have filed a class-action lawsuit against the chain, reports Toronto's Globe and Mail. (More Home Depot stories.)