Home Depot confirms payment systems were breached

(Reuters) - Home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc confirmed on Monday that its payment security systems have been breached, which could impact customers using payment cards at its stores in the United States and Canada.

Home Depot, however, said it has found no evidence that personal identification numbers (PINs) have been compromised, it said in a statement.

The breach was first reported by security website KrebsonSecurity on Sept. 3, which had said the problem could extend back to April and affect all of Home Depot's 2,200 stores in the United States.

Home Depot said it is focusing its investigation from April this year, after its banking partners and law enforcement agencies first notified them of the breach last week.

"We owe it to our customers to alert them that we now have enough evidence to confirm that a breach has indeed occurred," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank Blake said.

"It is important to emphasize that no customers will be responsible for fraudulent charges to their accounts."

Home Depot had said earlier it will roll out PIN- and chip-enabled cards at all its U.S. stores by the end of the year.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Chicago; editing by Matthew Lewis)