Attorney General Tim Fox announced on Tuesday that Montana and 45 other states have obtained a multi-million dollar settlement with Home Depot over a data breach that occurred in 2014.

“Back in 2014, we learned that the Home Depot which is a retailer most of us are familiar with, had a data breach, which exposed the payment and private information of approximately 40 million of their customers,” said Fox. “This was an egregious breach for many reasons, not the least of which is the Home Depot had not taken seriously its obligation to protect the private information of its customers,” he said. “And so through that investigation, we learned that there was about a six month period in 2014 where this information was obtained by hackers.”

Fox announced the details of the settlement.

“Today we announced a settlement along with 45 other states and the District of Columbia with Home Depot that includes a $17.5 million total payment to the states, of which nearly $100,000 on a per capita basis will pay to be paid to the state of Montana,” he said.

Fox also said the settlement will be a constant reminder to the Home Depot Corporation to better protect the private information of its customers.

“Probably more importantly, the consent decree that was entered in this case includes some very stringent protection measures that Home Depot will prospectively have to undergo in perpetuity, to make sure that they are doing the latest and the greatest and protecting the data of their customers.”

The State of Montana will collect approximately $96,000 through this settlement, which will fund ongoing consumer protection activities, including data privacy education.

 

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