One of the largest security breaches ever recorded in the US has been discovered by Equifax. The credit report giant Equifax has disclosed that 143 million of its US customers have had their personal information compromised. Customer details such as Social Security numbers, birth dates, and addresses, have been stolen in a massive security breach. Even some customers in UK and Canada were affected.
Hackers were able to break into Equifax computers between mid-May and July, which is when Equifax discovered the breach. The question is why did it take them so many months to disclose the fact? A select group of customers even had their credit card numbers stolen, around 209,000 customers to be exact. Equifax claims they are working with regulators in the US, UK, and Canada during their investigation. The company is offering free credit monitoring and identity theft protection for a year.
The Equifax breach is in the top 3 largest security breaches ever reported in America. Last year Yahoo said around 1 billion user accounts may have been affected in an ongoing breach that dated back as far as 2013 and another 145 million eBay accounts were also hacked in a 2014 breach. Richard Smith, the Equifax chief executive, said the incident was "disappointing" and "one that strikes at the heart of who we are and what we do."
The Equifax executive went on to say, "I apologize to consumers and our business customers for the concern and frustration this causes. We pride ourselves on being a leader in managing and protecting data, and we are conducting a thorough review of our overall security operations." The breach will certainly impact the public's faith in Equifax and it will take some time to regain consumers trust.
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