ATLANTA — Home Depot has released a report indicating that the security breach it suffered in recent months was much worse than originally thought. The findings are the result of weeks of investigation in co-operation with law enforcement and third-party IT security experts.
Not only did Home Depot compromise the payment card histories of 56 million customers, but separate files containing about 53 million email addresses were also taken during the breach. While the files did not contain passwords or other personal security information, they would leave owners of those emails vulnerable to junk mail and phishing scams.