$17.5 Million Settlement With The Home Depot Following 2014 Data Breach

Attorney General Curtis Hill  announced that he and 46 other attorneys general have obtained a $17.5 million settlement from Georgia-based retailer The Home Depot. The settlement resolves a multistate investigation of a 2014 data breach that exposed the payment card information of approximately 40 million Home Depot consumers nationwide. Under this settlement, Indiana will collect $520,962, which will go to the Agency Settlement Fund.

The breach occurred when hackers gained access to The Home Depot’s network and deployed malware on The Home Depot’s self-checkout points of sale. The malware allowed the hackers to obtain the payment card information of Home Depot customers who used self-checkout lanes at Home Depot stores throughout the U.S. between April 10, 2014, and Sept. 13, 2014.

In addition to the $17.5 million total payment to the states, The Home Depot has agreed to implement and maintain a series of data security practices designed to strengthen its information security program and safeguard the personal information of consumers.

“We must always insist that businesses follow reasonable procedures to protect consumers’ information from unlawful use or disclosure,” Attorney General Hill said. “This settlement is aimed at helping ensure exactly that.”

Specific information security provisions agreed to in the settlement include:

• Employing a duly qualified Chief Information Security Officer reporting to both the C-level executives and Board of Directors regarding Home Depot’s security posture and security risks;
• Providing resources necessary to fully implement the company’s information security program;
• Providing appropriate security awareness and privacy training to all personnel who have access to the company’s network or responsibility for U.S. consumers’ personal information;
• Employing specific security safeguards with respect to logging and monitoring, access controls, password management, two-factor authentication, file integrity monitoring, firewalls, encryption, risk assessments, penetration testing, intrusion detection, and vendor account management; and
• Consistent with previous state data breach settlements, the company will undergo a post-settlement information security assessment that in part will evaluate its implementation of the agreed upon information security program.