Equifax exposes personal info of 143 million Americans
USA credit-reporting bureau Equifax has been hacked. The breach allowed hackers to access the personal information of "approximately 143 million" Americans, or about 44% of the populace. According to the company, names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and some driver's license numbers were exposed by the attack. Other, much smaller leaks include the credit card numbers for about 209,000 people and credit dispute documents for about 182,000 people. The information leaked this way could allow criminals to apply for fraudulent credit accounts or engage in other sensitive activities that rely on Social Security numbers for personal identification.
Equifax was aware of this catastrophic exposure of personal information July 29, but sat on news of the hack until it had full details of the breadth of the intrusion. The company has set up an information portal for the breach so that Americans can check whether their personal data has been affected by the attack, and it's offering one year of its TrustedID Premier service to those who ...