Home Depot confirms breach but stays mum as to size

On Monday, Home Depot confirmed that thieves compromised the payment systems in its stores in the US and Canada and stole credit and debit card data.

The theft likely began in April and used unspecified malware, but it may not have compromised the PINs used to secure debit cards, the company said in a statement. The home supply retailer has not yet determined how many cards were breached, but the thieves had as many as six months in the company's systems. Comparatively, the malware-enabled theft of card data from retail giant Target resulted in the compromise of 40 million credit and debit card accounts and occurred in just over three weeks, albeit during the peak shopping season.

Home Depot's Chairman and CEO Frank Blake apologized to customers on Monday.