It wasn't so long ago we were all looking at the hackings at Target (News - Alert) and Neiman Marcus, and wondering just which major name would be next to fall. While there has been plenty of concern about cybersecurity in recent days, a new victim appears to have emerged, or so says word from multiple banks seeing evidence of such an occurrence. Specifically, it seems to be Home Depot's turn this time around, and the current word says that Home Depot is already working with the banks and law enforcement agencies connected to the issue to get what will hopefully be speedy resolution.

The reports suggest that, right now, the most likely perpetrators were the group of Russian and Ukrainian hackers that previously staged data breaches at places like P.F. Chang's, Sally Beauty and Target, among others. It was further noted that several banks had purchased customer credit card numbers from an underground store online that, back on September 2, brought a pair of fresh batches of stolen credit cards into play. Some have even suggested that this newest breach is related to sanctions posed against Russia as part of its involvement in the Ukraine affair, evidenced by the fact that one bundle of stolen credit cards is being reportedly sold under the name “American Sanctions” while a second bundle, featuring cards from European banks used in United States store locations, was labeled “European Sanctions.”

Some of the latest reports, meanwhile, suggest the breach may go as far back as late April of 2014, and may extend over the entirety of the 2,200 Home Depot locations in the United States. That would make this, potentially, an even more extensive breach than the one suffered by Target, which lost 40 million credit and debit card numbers over the course of three weeks.

Home Depot's Paula Drake offered up a note of confirmation around the proceedings, saying “I can confirm we are looking into some unusual activity and we are working with our banking partners and law enforcement to investigate. Protecting our customers’ information is something we take extremely seriously, and we are aggressively gathering facts at this point while working to protect customers. If we confirm that a breach has occurred, we will make sure customers are notified immediately. Right now, for security reasons, it would be inappropriate for us to speculate further – but we will provide further information as soon as possible.”

A disaster: but not necessarily the greatest disaster. Given that this happened when it did, it's possible now for Home Depot to get some investigating done, offer the necessary protections to those impacted by the thefts, assuming there were any such cases there once the investigations have concluded, and then work to rebuild trust in the operation in time for the upcoming holiday shopping season. While Home Depot might lose out on a little of that crucial fall cleanup business—leaves will be coming off the trees before too much longer, after all—it should be able to make a recovery in time for Christmas decorations and the big-ticket home improvement presents.

Still, Home Depot will have to move quickly to figure out just how far this breach went, and where appropriate, make the necessary improvements to protect against such moves in the future. If this had to happen at all, this might have been the best time for it, and Home Depot has an excellent chance of bouncing back.