Home Depot shoppers: check your credit card statements now

Another big-brand retailer has been notified that their customers’ payment information got stolen:  Home Depot stores appear to be the latest source of stolen credit or debit cards on sale in the cybercrime underground.

(Update: rescator[.]cc just updated another bulk of credit cards for sale today as of Sept. 4th, 2014.)

As of today, at least five other stores have enrolled in the Get-Your-Customers-Credit-Cards-Stolen Club in the past 12 months, and this distinguished list includes: Target,Neiman Marcus, Michaels Stores, Sally Beauty, P.F. Changs.

Figure: The 6 retailer stores had data breaches in last 12 months

“Protecting our customers’ information is something we take extremely seriously, and we are … working to protect customers.” Home Deport representative responded on this issue.

We certainly hope these stores will be serious with customers’ information and take actions, particularly since customers can't do anything to prevent their information from leaking once those payments are handed over to the retailers.

But there are a few things that customers can do to prevent any financial loss and better protect ourselves. A few tips are:

1. Check your credit/debit card statements regularly. Pay particularly attention to those cards used at Home Depot in last few months, and talk to your card issuer if anything looks suspicious. Do not overlook small-amount transactions.
2. Take advantage of the free credit score checks available to see if your score has been damaged
3. Next time, use credit cards with a computer chip and pin, or use a paper check or cash when making purchases in stores.

For more on this topic and the latest breaches – check out these videos:

NBC Bay Area: Brian Babineau, Barracuda VP Product & Channel Marketing

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/tech/Home-Depot-Looking-Into-Credit-Card-Hack-273607071.html

CNBC Fast Money: BJ Jenkins, Barracuda CEO & President

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000306796#.