Posted on 09/07/2017 9:33:19 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The credit reporting agency Equifax said Thursday that hackers gained access to sensitive personal data — Social Security numbers, birth dates and home addresses — for up to 143 million Americans, a major cybersecurity breach at a firm that serves as one of the three major clearinghouses for Americans’ credit histories.
Equifax said the breach began in May and continued until it was discovered in late July. It said hackers exploited a “website application vulnerability” and obtained personal data about British and Canadian consumers as well as Americans. Social Security numbers and birth dates are particularly sensitive data, giving those who possess them the ingredients for identity fraud and other crimes.
Equifax also lost control of an unspecified number of driver’s licenses, along with the credit card numbers for 209,000 consumers and credit dispute documents for 182,000 others. The company said it did not detect intrusions into its “core consumer or commercial credit reporting databases.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
143 million - pretty much covers everyone with credit histories (children don’t have histories, many poor people don’t, some spouses don’t, etc.).
It all went too far. Too much information in too many places and too well organized.
Can we sue? I’m going through such terrible anguish right now!
Equihacks???
Three Equinox executives sold stock before revealing cyber-hack
A lot, but not all. Mine wasn’t.
Yeah and that looks weird if they knew. In fact it’s illegal.
A good captain goes down with his ship.
How do you know you weren’t affected?
It’s stupid to use SS# for so many things.
How do you know that I was?
And in September they decided they’d tell us.
“Equihacks”
Excellent! Didn’t find that on a google search just now, so you may have claim to the term.
So what was leaked? A list of SSNs and scores maybe? That’s what a bureau usually cares about. This would leave the best scores as the easiest picking for fraud. Mine is no prize due to going bust some years back. That’s possibly why I was not on the list.
I don’t. You said in the previous post you weren’t affected. Just wondering how you found out.
Equifax, not Equinox.
spellcheck decision
Just wow.
Well at least the website for checking if one’s data was in the body of data believed compromised, didn’t come up positive for me.
My credit score is outstanding, better than ever, but I’m no catch for fraudsters. There’s a backstory as to why, but suffice it to say that 2008 was very unkind to me, leading to some extreme measures to hold it all together. Never missed a payment on a thing and now owe very little, but my net worth was severely impacted. I hope there’s time to recover before work becomes difficult due to age, I suppose I’ve got at least 20 years. If not, I’ll work ‘till I croak.
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