Home Depot...... just a headsup....

[gPink]

Just got this in my inbox.....


The Home Depot


Dear Valued Customer,

The Home Depot has discovered that a file containing your email address may have been taken during the payment card breach we announced in September. The file contained email addresses, but it did not contain passwords, payment card information, or other sensitive personal information. We apologize for this incident and for the inconvenience and frustration this may cause you.

In all likelihood this event will not impact you, but we recommend that you be on the alert for phony emails requesting personal or sensitive information. If you have any questions or would like additional information on how to protect yourself from email scams, please visit our website or call 1-800-HOMEDEPOT.

Again, we apologize for the frustration and inconvenience this incident may have caused. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

The Home Depot

Please do not reply to this email. To contact us call 1-800-HOMEDEPOT, or contact us at The Home Depot, Attn: Privacy Official, 2455 Paces Ferry Road, N.W., Atlanta, GA 30339-4024, USA.

[wahrsuul]

I never give them my email address....or phone number.  They don't need it to take my money.

[VirginiaJim]

Yep, got the same thing..  I've never really liked Home Depot.  I prefer Lowes.  I had their 'deals' coming in through email but I stopped that after I heard about the breach.  Evidently I bought something during the 'window'.  They weren't the first and won't be the last.  What happens with these businesses is that they don't want to pay the money to be as secure as they need to be.  There are tools readily available (with a cost) to prevent this kind of thing and there are policies that can be implemented to do the same such as disabling vendor access or the changing of passwords.

[BruceR]

I got the notice from Home Depot.  I also got a new debit card from my bank as a precaution.  Seems like Home Depot contacted the bank too, who thought it would be prudent to be pro-active and send out new debit cards.

[jettawreck]

I will never have a debit or bank checking account card. A hacker/breach can access the entire account balance before you know it's happened. You may not be liable, but it will take a while to get stuff cleared up with your bank, and if you have any direct payments from the account you could have insufficient funds to cover it and get overdraft fees and/or bad credit history. A regular credit card comes with a statement and an opportunity to review the charges before you pay it. I have had a couple fraudulent charges and always had no problem with getting them removed before paying the account balance.   

[Nosmo]

I only use my credit cards for gasoline purchase, because it's such a pain to prepay with cash and it takes almost $100 to fill up my truck.  Everything else is cash or check.  Mostly cash.

[jimmymac]

I hardly ever have cash. I use my card for everything.
Then at the end of the week my wife gets a pile of receipts. No longer my problem.
She pays all the bills too. Pretty spoiled and no stress.

[VirginiaJim]

Hmmm, that's me as well except for the bills.  They all go to me. 

[Nosmo]

Well, this concerns me.  I just got the same email.  Only thing is I don't see any reason why HD would have my email address.  I can't remember ever doing any paperwork with them that would have it.  Any chance this is another phishing scheme and all of us who opened that email got further hacked?

[wahrsuul]

This is why pre-paid cards are great.  Even if someone hacks the account, they're limited on what they can get away with.  You can keep some debit cards that way too, depends on your bank/CU.

I've been in the tech/computer fialed for over 30 years, and I can't believe the number of people I meet htat have all their personal and financial info on their phones.  Those things are far more insecure than a home system.  Apple has already been hacked once in their cloud, now they want you to entrust all your CC info to them as well?

I had one of those "home automation" guys stop by the house a while back trying to get me to buy their services.  I stopped him before he got going, and told him he couldn't sell me his product.  It's alerady easy enough for someone to break into my house, no need to make it easier.  The "internet of things" is growing fast, and the security is not keeping pace.

[timsatx]

I was recently issued a new card from my credit union because of this.

[twowheeladdict]

I was recently issued a new card from my credit union because of this.

Me too, even though I haven't shopped their in years. 

I earn money with my credit cards so I will continue to use them. 

[Strawboss]

No worries here, I almost always use cash. Cash is king in our house. 

[max1138]

I do not own/use a credit card, got rid of them years back. I do use a bank debit card however. 
 but its mostly just to get gas with.  I dont want to go stand in line to prepay for gas cause I usually fill up.

if someone asks me for a phone or email while im purchasing something  my usual reply is benjamin franklin@at you cant have my information.com.   
they give me that look and Im thinking Im not the one asking for personal info you dont need except to cause me grief..