Be Afraid… Be Very Afraid

When hackers gained access to one of Equifax’s portals, thanks to its failure to patch a software vulnerability, the personally identifiable information of more than 145 million consumers was compromised. That data included, among other things, Social Security numbers, birth dates and driver’s license numbers.  The Wall Street Journal writes that more information was leaked than was previously reported. This includes tax identification numbers, which are used when someone doesn’t have a social security number, as well as e-mail addresses, credit card information, and some additional drivers license information and the states and dates in which the licenses were issued. The attack on the company represents one of the largest risks to personally sensitive information in recent years, and is the third major cybersecurity threat for the agency in the last 3 years. Pamela Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit research group said,  “If you have a credit report, chances are you may be in this breach. The chances are much better than 50 percent.”  Although other cyberattacks, such as the two breaches that Yahoo announced in 2016, have eclipsed the penetration at Equifax in sheer size, the Equifax attack is worse in terms of severity. Thieves were able to siphon far more personal information. The company handles data on more than 820 million consumers and more than 91 million businesses worldwide and manages a database with employee information from more than 7,100 employers. Using the data stolen from Equifax, identity thieves can impersonate people with lenders, creditors and service providers, who rely on personal identity information from Equifax to make financial decisions regarding potential customers. Due to the nature of the information obtained through the Equifax hack, compromised individuals are always going to be at risk. Social Security numbers and birth dates, for example, are two pieces of information that individuals do not have the power to change once they have been compromised. Once that information is out there, it will always be out there. If you would like to know if you have been impacted, you can find out here.