The Largest Breach of 2017
Equifax, a provider of consumer credit scores, was a confirmed victim of a data breach this quarter. The incident resulted in 145.5 million customer files being compromised. Making this one of the biggest breaches in U.S. history, and the largest breach reported in 2017.
The hackers were infiltrating the company’s systems from May to July of this year. The consumer data compromised includes names, social security numbers, and in some instances, the customer’s driver’s license number. Hackers also obtained credit card information for 209,000 customers. Beyond U.S. customers, certain individuals located in Canada and the U.K. were also impacted.
Equifax reported they are working to notify all impacted through mail correspondence. The company has contracted credit monitoring services with TrustID; however, customers continue to report a lack of response from TrustID after attempting to sign up.
The company learned of the breach on July 29th, and has been working with a cyber security firm to conduct a thorough investigation.
Since the breach, Equifax’s CIO, CSO, and CEO have retired. Prior to his departure, Equifax’s CEO, Richard Smith made the following statement to Bloomberg,
“This is clearly a disappointing event for our company, and one that strikes at the heart of who we are and what we do. I apologize to consumers and our business customers for the concern and frustration this causes.”
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