Connecticut receives $1.1 million in national settlement over Home Depot credit card breach

Connecticut has received $1.1 million as part of a national settlement with the Home Depot over a 2014 payment card breach, state Attorney General William Tong said Tuesday.

The $17.5 million settlement was split among 45 states and Washington, D.C.

The data breach exposed payment card information of about 40 million Home Depot customers nationwide. The company did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The breach occurred when hackers gained access to the Home Depot network and deployed malware on its point-of-sale system, Tong said. The malware allowed the hackers to obtain payment card information of customers who used self-checkout lanes at Home Depot stores between April 10 and Sept. 13, 2014.

“Companies like Home Depot who collect sensitive personal information from their customers have an obligation to protect that information from unlawful use or disclosure,” he said. “Home Depot failed to take those precautions and as a result exposed the payment card information of 40 million of their customers.”

The Home Depot has agreed to establish and maintain data security practices intended to strengthen its information security program and safeguard customers’ personal information, Tong said.

Among the practices, the Home Depot will use security safeguards with respect to logging and monitoring, access controls, password management, two factor authentication, file integrity monitoring, firewalls, encryption, risk assessments, penetration testing, intrusion detection and vendor account management.

Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com.

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