Equifax systems hacked, exposing 143 million consumers’ personal information, 44% of U.S. population
Equifax announced Thursday that its systems were hacked in May, exposing 143 million consumers’ personal information.
NPR, “Hackers Accessed The Personal Data Of 143 Million People, Equifax Says”, 7 Sept 2017:
Equifax, an international credit reporting agency, has announced that a cybersecurity breach exposed the personal information of 143 million U.S. consumers. In a statement released Thursday, the Atlanta-based agency acknowledged that “criminals exploited a U.S. website application vulnerability to gain access to certain files.”
Those files include data such as Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses and, Equifax adds, “in some instances, driver’s license numbers.”
For a span of roughly two months — from mid-May through July 29, when Equifax says it uncovered the breach — hackers had access to this information, as well as the credit card numbers of about 209,000 consumers and “certain dispute documents with personal identifying information” of about 182,000.
All told, the number of American consumers affected constitutes about 44 percent of the U.S. population.
Equifax did not explain why more than two months passed before it discovered the hack, which also affected an unspecified number of consumers from Canada and the U.K.
Rick Smith, Chairman and CEO of Equifax, on Cybersecurity Incident Involving Consumer Data.
Posted by Fine Print on Sat, 09 Sep 2017 05:25 | #
Equifax offers to apprise you as to whether your personal information has been compromised ...if you sign their offer and wave your right to sue them (as obfuscated in fine print).