Apple Macs and iPhones might replace Microsoft systems at The Home Depot following data breach

Home improvement warehouse retailer, The Home Depot, has reported a massive data breach, which affected payment systems between April and September 2014.

The Windows-based infrastructure was allegedly compromised to allow theft of over 53 million email addresses, and 56 million credit card accounts over the same period, through malware installed in self-checkout lanes.

Microsoft did issue a patch, but only after the breach, which prompted The Home Depot executives to re-think their IT infrastructure in favor of a less vulnerable alternative.

In the wake of the breach, executives of the home improvement warehouse have purchased two dozen Macbooks and iPhones, which could be an indication that the retailer may be looking to overhaul its current systems.

Similarly to other security breaches occurred at large retail chains such as Target and Michaels, hackers were apparently able to access employee-level logins within the infrastructure, and inject malware from within The Home Depot’s systems.

Apple Pay seems like a logical candidate to fix the problem for good, alongside similar NFC technologies designed to secure credit card transactions at checkout, and there is a strong chance The Home Depot is considering integration of near-field communication transactions in the midst of a possible platform transition.

Enabling Apple Pay at checkout is rapidly becoming a popular topic on many large and medium sized retail chain’s executive memos, as it is indeed one of the most secure ways to pay at brick-and-mortar store locations.

The new payment system reported over one million card activations within its first three days of activity, answering the question on whether consumers are actually feeling comfortable processing electronic transactions at the counter. With a system that is exponentially more secure than any regular checkout credit card reader, Apple might be on the verge of becoming a safety net for retail chains, and a beacon for consumers who may begin feeling uneasy about checkout credit card transactions.