By Shane Curtis
The credit reporting agency, Equifax, has revealed
that they suffered a huge cyberattack that could affect up 143 million
Americans.
The hackers gained access to sensitive personal
data, including social security numbers, birth dates and addresses of nearly
half the population of the US.
The company released a statement on their website saying: “Based
on the company’s investigation, the unauthorized access occurred from mid-May
through July 2017.”
Equifax confirmed that the breach occurred on
September 7, but has so far refused to disclose why it waited six weeks before
disclosing the cyberattack.
In addition to gaining access to personal data, the
cybersecurity breach also exposed 209,000 credit card numbers that also
includes customers from Canada and the United Kingdom.
Equifax is one of the largest credit reporting
agencies in the US and analyze financial data records that cover a wide range
of consumers from around the world. They often get this information from credit
card companies, banks and lenders. They then use this data to determine a
person’s credit score.
In a video posted on their website, Rick Smith,
Chairman and CEO of Equifax, said, “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.”
The Atlanta-based company also announced that they
will be contacting all those affected by mail and have set up a website,
equifaxsecurity2017.com, and a dedicated call center to deal with consumer
concerns.
While the numbers possibly affected is staggering,
it’s still dwarfed by the data breach suffered by Yahoo when more than 1 billion users’
accounts were breached throughout the world.
In further developments, Bloomberg News reported that three senior executives – Chief Financial
Officer John W. Gamble; Joseph M. Loughran III, the president of U.S.
information solutions; and Rodolfo O. Ploder, the president of workforce
solutions – sold shares worth almost $1.8 million shortly after Equifax
discovered the security breach.
The company did confirm that the trio had no
knowledge of the incident before they sold their shares.
Equifax shares fell 13% after news of the
cyberattack was announced.