Earlier this month, Home Depot has confirmed that security at its payment system was breached by hackers and that customers who made credit card purchases at its Canadian and U.S. stores could be affected.
At this point in time it looks like back as far as April of this year Home Depots point of sale systems were compromised by hackers and anyone who had made a purchase at one of their stores from April onward could potentially have their credit card or debit card numbers stolen.
With that in mind, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that the breach affected customers who shopped online at HomeDepot.com or at its stores in Mexico, or that debit card or credit card PINs (personal identification numbers) were compromised and that Canadians may be less affected.
Experts say the breach may have a less severe impact on Canadian shoppers. That’s because U.S. retailers still widely accept older cards that aren’t protected with the new “chip-and-pin” technology, a protection that now covers about nine in 10 credit- and debit-cards in use here in Canada. So, for hackers to be able to sell or use Canadian credit and debit card numbers they would need to know the pin number on each – not that it gives anyone a safer feeling about the whole issue but at least an extra safeguard of protection.
Steps can people take to ensure they are safe:
The first thing is to monitor all of your accounts and let your bank know if they notice any unusual activity.
Home Depot made a statement saying that if you find any fraudulent charges to your accounts, you will not be responsible, and they will be offering free identity protection services, including credit monitoring, to any customer who has shopped at a Home Depot store in 2014, from April on.
If you go to https://homedepot.allclearid.com/ or call their toll-free number at 1-800-466-3337 you can get further information on how to register and request free identity protection service from Canada’s Equifax.
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