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From New York Times
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, according to an investigation by Equifax. The company said it found no evidence of unauthorized activity on its main consumer or commercial credit reporting databases and that the breach was discovered on July 29.
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.
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.
