NEW YORK – At least five states have launched a joint probe into the data breach on the payment-card processing systems of Home Depot, even as the retailer works to determine the impact on its customers in the United States and Canada, according to various news reports. As of Thursday, California, Connecticut and Illinois would lead the probe, with participation from  New York and Iowa.

On Monday, Home Depot confirmed reports last week that its payment processing systems had been breached. The retailer has said the breach could have affected any customer who had used a payment card at one of its stores in the United States since April of this year.

Many analysts have speculated that this breach could rival, or top, last year's unprecedented cyberattack on Target, which resulted in the theft of some 40 million payment card numbers and another 70 million customer records.