Home Depot agreed to pay $25 million to a number of banks in a settlement over the home improvement retailer’s 2014 data breach that impacted more than 50 million consumers.
The details come courtesy of a Fortune article, which states:
In a new settlement with dozens of banks, the retailer has agreed to pay $25 million for damages they incurred as a result of the breach, one of the biggest in history.
The settlement, filed this week in federal court in Atlanta, also requires Home Depot to tighten its cyber-security practices and to subject its vendors to more scrutiny—a measure tied to the fact that a security flaw by a third-party payment processor made the hacked self-checkout terminals vulnerable.
"We’re pleased to have moved through this phase of resolution," said Stephen Holmes, a spokesman at Home Depot.
The settlement is just the latest in a string of settlements over the massive data breach, which Home Depot confirmed back in September 2014.
At the time, the retailer said that anyone who used a debit or credit card at its U.S. or Canadian stores since April 2014 was at risk of having their data stolen.
“We apologize for the frustration and anxiety this causes our customers, and I want to thank them for their patience and support as we work through this issue,” Frank Blake, chairman and CEO, said at the time. “We owe it to our customers to alert them that we now have enough evidence to confirm that a breach has indeed occurred. It's important to emphasize that no customers will be responsible for fraudulent charges to their accounts.”
Almost exactly one year ago, the retailer agreed to pay at least $19.5 million to the affected consumers.
The Fortune article also notes that Home Depot has paid “at least $134.5 million in compensation to consortiums made up of Visa, MasterCard, and various banks” because of the breach.
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