Equifax Says Cyberattack May Have Affected 143 Million Customers

The New York Times ^ | September 7th, 2017 | By TIFFANY HSU

[Mariner]

Equifax, one of the three major consumer credit reporting agencies, said on Thursday that a data breach left Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and other sensitive information for 143 million United States consumers vulnerable to hackers.

Criminals gained access to certain files in the company’s system from mid-May to July by exploiting a weak point in a website application, according to an investigation by Equifax. The company said that it discovered the intrusion on July 29 and has since found no evidence of unauthorized activity on its main consumer or commercial credit reporting databases.

Hackers were able to retrieve birth dates and addresses, as well as credit card numbers for 209,000 consumers. Documents with personal information used in disputes for 182,000 consumers was also taken.

Equifax said that some personal information for British and Canadian residents was also hacked.

The data breach at Equifax is not the largest. Yahoo disclosed in September 2016 that 500 million user accounts had been hacked in 2014, followed by a second disclosure three months later that a different attack in 2013 compromised more than one billion accounts.

Equifax said that, in addition to reporting the breach to law enforcement, it had hired a cybersecurity firm to conduct a review to determine the scale of the invasion. The investigation is expected to wrap up within the next few weeks.

[ozaukeemom]

I was checking for my husband, myself and my son. I tried a few times, getting that info. Then, I tried again for my DH and it came up that he was not one of the breached. I will keep trying for mine and my son’s. I will NOT be signing up for the verify thing. I believe you have to input payment info so that after the “free” year, you will be charged.

[huldah1776]

Loan forgiveness is nice if the banks can afford it. If the banks lose their “numbers” they don’t have any money to loan out?

I wonder about the millenial reign of the Messiah and just wondered how He will establish banking. Old Testament laws?

The following article discusses debt forgiveness. When 3rd world countries were forgiven great debt the money they saved was wasted.

https://theconversation.com/the-debt-jubilee-an-old-testament-solution-to-a-modern-financial-crisis-11816

Some argue it is a reason not to forgive loans. The Old Testament Jubilee was in fact NEVER followed. IMHO if the Jubilee was followed the BANKS would not loan people who couldn’t pay it back or would TEACH people how to be frugal and PROFITABLE. At least that will be during the reign of the Messiah. :)

[BlueLancer]

"Equifax Says Cyberattack May Have Affected 143 Million Customers"

Personally, the most outrageous thing that I find about all of this is that Equifax has the unmitigated gall to call me a "customer". I have never been a "customer" of Equifax: never purchased anything from them, never asked for any service from them, never had any personal contact with any employee of Equifax.