CUNA announced Wednesday it joined a class-action lawsuit against The Home Depot in response to a September 2014 data breach at the company.

The breach occurred when hackers got into the company's network and deployed malware on the self-checkout systems in order to get card information from shoppers at U.S. and Canadian stores between April 2014 and September 2014, according to Home Depot's latest 10-K filed with the SEC. More than 50 million email addresses were also taken, according to the company.

"Credit union members need a solution to the problem of merchant data breaches," Jim Nussle, president/CEO of CUNA said. "Credit unions around the country have been dealt a huge blow by merchant data breaches and CUNA expended significant resources and has been diligently working with its credit union members to address and respond to the Home Depot data breach. CUNA did not make the decision to join the lawsuit lightly; we stand with our credit union members and believe consumers must be protected from merchant negligence. Home Depot continues to operate using the inferior systems and procedures that gave rise to the breach and it is unacceptable."