Home Depot ordered to pay $27.84 million for customer privacy violations

According to an article in the Californian: Alameda County Superior Court has ordered Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. to pay $27.84 million to resolve allegations that the company... discarded records without rendering private customer information unreadable.

In the civil complaint filed in mid-February, prosecutors alleged that more than 300 Home Depot stores and distribution centers were... tossing documents with sensitive customer information into store trash bins...
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While the initial investigation focused on environmental violations (sending batteries, solvents, etc. to landfills) there were also significant violations of customer's privacy by Home Depot.

This is a good example of the human factor in security, resulting in a compromise of sensitive information. While I doubt that Home Depot had malicious intent in discarding intact records containing private customer information, the fact is that it did happen.

When you provide your personal and financial information to a business you lose control of that information and there is no guarantee that the business will protect your personal information from loss or compromise.

I recommend always limiting the amount of information that you provide to a business, and using services such as Privacy.Com and Blur to provide yourself with an extra layer of financial privacy.