Information on the recent Equifax Credit Bureau breach

Fraud Alert – Equifax Breach

Equifax, one of the major credit reporting agencies, released information on September 7, 2017 that a cyber security incident may have potentially impacted approximately 143 million U.S. consumers. Criminals exploited a U.S. website application vulnerability to gain access to certain files. Equifax discovered the unauthorized access on July 29 of this year and acted immediately to stop the intrusion. Based on the company’s investigation, the unauthorized access occurred from mid-May through July 2017. The company has found no evidence of unauthorized activity on Equifax’s core consumer or commercial credit reporting databases.

The information accessed primarily includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers. In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers, were accessed. As part of its investigation of this application vulnerability, Equifax also identified unauthorized access to limited personal information for certain UK and Canadian residents.

Please see the Equifax website for more details and ways to protect yourself.