Justin Sullivan
Home Depot confirmed Monday that hackers had breached the payment systems at more than 2,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada, potentially granting them access to credit- and debit-card information about millions of customers. Home Depot didn’t reveal how many customers it believes were directly affected, but the hack “could potentially impact any customer that has used their payment card at our U.S. and Canadian stores, from April forward,” the home-improvement retailer said in a statement. Earlier this year, Target suffered a security hack, but the effect of this breach could be even more significant due to its relatively extensive duration. “From what I’m hearing, people think this will be as big as Target or bigger,” said Forrester Research analyst John Kindervag. “I would think if you’re a member of the board of directors, somebody has to be the sacrificial lamb for this.” Rumors of a Home Depot security breach began circulating last Tuesday. Since then, its shares are down 3 percent, and dropped 42 cents to $90.40 in Monday after-market trading.