US home improvement chain Home Depot said Tuesday it was investigating a possible attempt to hack its computer systems that may have targeted customer data. The company said it was working with law enforcement officials to determine if there was a breach, after computer security expert Brian Krebs reported that hackers had put on sale stolen credit and debit cards that apparently came from the chain.
"I can confirm that we're looking into some unusual activity and we are working with our banking partners and law enforcement to investigate," Home Depot said in a statement. "Protecting our customers' information is something we take extremely seriously, and we are aggressively gathering facts at this point while working to protect customers. If we confirm that a breach has occurred, we will make sure customers are notified immediately." Krebs, on his KrebsonSecurity website, reported that a number of banks had said they saw evidence that Home Depot was the source of a "massive" batch of card data that was put up for sale early Tuesday on the Rescator website, which regularly offers stolen cards for sale.