Home Depot has announced the number of credit and debit cards potentially affected in a cyberattack between April and September 2014: 56 million.
While the company hasn't said how many card numbers were actually stolen -- as opposed to at risk -- that figure is significantly larger than the 40 million credit cards stolen in the massive security breach at Target last December.
The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer said Thursday it has eliminated the malware behind the attacks, which it also said was a kind of malware not previously seen in other attacks. (On the other hand, one cybersecurity expert told Mashable this malware used "the same baseline code" as the Target attack.)
The company is offering identity protection services and credit monitoring to anyone affected by the breach. Still, Home Depot advised customers to keep a close eye on their accounts.
Ironically, Home Depot was installing a cybersecurity system while the attack was underway, sources at the company told the Wall Street Journal. That installation is now said to be complete, at least at the company's 2,000 U.S. hardware stores.