Home Depot hack could be ‘much, much bigger’ than Target

A possible recent data breach at Home Depot could be significantly larger than last year’s hack at Target, according to new analysis.

Researcher Brian Krebs on Wednesday compiled data showing that nearly all of the home repair giant’s stores might have been hit, potentially affecting tens of millions of shoppers’ credit and debit cards.

If the vast majority of its 2,200 stores were attacked, Krebs wrote, “this breach could be much, much bigger than Target,” which had data about shoppers at 1,800 stores stolen, affecting 40 million people’s credit or debit cards.

So far, Home Depot has yet to confirm that it was indeed hacked this spring, though the company has said that it is ”looking into some unusual activity that might indicate” a data breach.

The Target hack captured headlines around the holiday shopping season last year and led to multiple congressional hearings on protections for people’s data.

Lawmakers rolled out a handful of bills to establish a nationwide standard for notifying people if their data has been stolen and mandate tough security standards, but those efforts have largely stalled in the face of disagreement over the government’s role in preventing hacks and jurisdictional fights between committees.