Monday, May 14, 2018

The Final Numbers on the Equifax Scandal

Last week, in a filing to the SEC, the credit-rating agency Equifax offered its most detailed analysis of its massive breach to date. The company disclosed not only how many consumers it believes were hit but also  broke down which types of information were most likely to have been stolen.

In the end, 147 million people were affected. Names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers were by far the most common type of data stolen by the attackers, Equifax said. Then came mailing addresses, phone numbers and just under 2 million email addresses. Roughly 209,000 credit card numbers and card-expiration dates were taken.

Beyond the information stored in those databases, Equifax said the hackers accessed thousands of images of official documents — such as government-issued IDs — that people had uploaded to the company to prove their identity. Photos of as many as 38,000 driver's licenses and 12,000 Social Security or taxpayer ID cards were accessed.

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