On September 7th, Equifax announced a “cyber security incident” where criminals accessed their application gain access to “names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers.” Hackers also got credit card numbers for approximately 200,000 US consumers.
Over half the population has likely had their information taken in Equifax’s recent hack, so it’s safe to assume you’ve been affected.
You probably heard that one of the biggest credit-reporting bureaus got hacked recently. It was pretty bad.
Equifax, TransUnion and Experian are the big three providers of credit scores (and other data, including: social security numbers, full names, addresses, birth dates, and even drivers licenses and credit card numbers for some) to potential lenders and consumers.
Hackers have had access to this information between May and July, and it's taken five weeks for the company to disclose the breach.
Equifax claims that they responded immediately, but three Equifax executives sold shares of their company before they publically announced the breach on Thursday.
Since the breach became public, Equifax's (EFX) stock is down over 13 percent.
via MarketWatch
How is Equifax responding to the risk?
Equifax has made public statements that the leak has been fixed … but that does not protect or remedy the data that already leaked.
As a result of the breach, Equifax created a website for you to determine if you've been affected.
Regardless of whether or not you were affected, they are offering "Trusted ID Premier" monitoring free for a year as an extra layer of protection. But, beware, TechCrunch has pointed out that agreeing to their ToS seems to waive your right to sue Equifax.
Situations like this are reminders to pay even more attention to your own online security.
