Equifax Data Breach Exposes 143M Identities

Breach hits huge consumer credit reporting agency.

Giant US credit agency Equifax, has reported a data breach of its servers, one that compromised the information of 143 million consumers. The breach was discovered July 29th and is only just now coming to light; the company has just begun sending out notification letters to the victims whose information was stolen.

In the US, there are numerous credit reporting agencies that specialize in every aspect of your financial identity. However, there are three mainstays of the credit industry that monitor every aspect of your financial well-being, and offer up reports that give an indication of your fiscal responsibility. TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax are the three most widely used and well-known agencies, and they are the sources of consumers’ credit reports.

Equifax dats breach was discovered in July, but is only just now coming to light.

As credit reporting agencies, these companies have need of consumers complete identifying information in order to form a comprehensive picture of their finances. That means they store names, addresses, birth dates, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account information, and more on every single US consumer.

Background

In the US, there are numerous credit reporting agencies that specialize in every aspect of your financial identity. However, there are three mainstays of the credit industry that monitor every aspect of your financial well-being, and offer up reports that give an indication of your fiscal responsibility. TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax are the three most widely used and well-known agencies, and they are the sources of consumers’ credit reports.

A coincidence, honest

Just days after the data breach, three executives with Equifax sold off around $2 million of their shares in the company. The Securities Exchange Commission is investigating the sale, but at this time they are allowing the possibility that the executives acted purely out of coincidence and not because they knew the company stock was about to plummet. Experian’s per-share value dropped by more than 12 percent following the announcement of the breach.

A record year for data theft

In addition to the stolen identifying information, hundreds of thousands of credit card numbers were stolen, along with sensitive documents pertaining to credit charge disputes. The notification letters will contain details about Equifax’s obligation to consumers, such as credit monitoring or other helpful measures. This breach has occurred in what is already a record-setting year for the both the number of data breach events and the numbers of stolen consumer records, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.

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