NEW YORK — Home Depot confirmed on Monday that its payment systems have been breached and said the hack could affect customers who used credit and debit cards at its more than 2,000 US and Canadian stores.
The largest US home improvement chain said it has not found evidence that debit card PINs were compromised. The company, which did not reveal how many cards might be affected, said its investigation goes as far back as April. It disclosed a potential breach on Tuesday.
As of Feb. 2, Home Depot Inc. had almost 2,000 locations in the United States, including about 45 in Massachusetts, and 180 in Canada. On the news, Home Depot shares fell 57 cents to $90.25 in aftermarket trading.
The home improvement chain is the latest retailer to have a data breach. Others include Target, grocer Supervalu, restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s, and the thrift store operations of Goodwill. The breaches have rattled shoppers’ confidence in the security of their personal data.
In December, Target Corp. disclosed a massive data breach that resulted in the theft of 40 million debit and credit card numbers and the potential exposure of personal information of up to 70 million shoppers.
Forrester Research analyst John Kindervag said the Home Depot breach could affect similar numbers of shoppers or cards, noting that months’ worth of data may have been compromised. ‘‘From what I’m hearing, people think this will be as big as Target or bigger,’’ he said in a telephone interview.
Retailers, banks, and card companies have responded to the breaches by increasing security by speeding the adoption of microchips in US credit and debit cards. Home Depot plans to have chip-enabled checkout terminals at all of its US stores by the end of this year.
The Atlanta company said its IT department is looking into the breach and is working with outside firms, its banking partners, and the US Secret Service. The company added that customers will not be held responsible for fraudulent charges.
The possible breach at Home Depot was first reported by Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security, a website that focuses on cybersecurity. Krebs said multiple banks reported ‘‘evidence that Home Depot stores may be the source of a massive new batch of stolen credit and debit cards’’ that went on sale on the black market earlier Tuesday.
Krebs said a preliminary analysis indicates the breach may have affected almost all of Home Depot’s US stores.
The Target hack was described as the second-largest credit card breach in US history and cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses, as well as affecting its profit and sales.
Target’s chief information officer and chief executive both stepped down in the months after the hack, and Kindervag noted that it remains to be seen how Home Depot will respond and how other businesses will deal with similar breaches in the future.