Home Depot Says About 53 Mln Email Addresses Taken In Breach

(RTTNews) - Home Depot, Inc. (HD) disclosed additional findings related to the recent breach of its payment data systems. In addition to the previously disclosed payment card data, separate files containing approximately 53 million email addresses were also taken during the breach. These files did not contain passwords, payment card information or other sensitive personal information. The company is notifying affected customers in the U.S. and Canada.

The findings are the result of weeks of investigation by The Home Depot, in cooperation with law enforcement and the company's third-party IT security experts.

The company noted that Criminals used a third-party vendor's user name and password to enter the perimeter of Home Depot's network. These stolen credentials alone did not provide direct access to the company's point-of-sale devices. The hackers then acquired elevated rights that allowed them to navigate portions of Home Depot's network and to deploy unique, custom-built malware on its self-checkout systems in the U.S. and Canada.

The company confirmed its previous fiscal 2014 sales growth guidance of approximately 4.8 percent and its fiscal 2014 earnings per share guidance of $4.54, an increase of approximately 21 percent, which includes estimates for the cost to investigate the data breach, provide credit monitoring services to customers, increase call center staffing, and pay legal and professional services, all of which are expensed as incurred.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $4.50 per share and revenues of $82.65 billion for fiscal 2014. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.