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Briefing
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- Mass Data Breach – Equifax suffered massive data breach that exposed personal information of 143 million people, half of U.S. population, including names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses, and drivers' license numbers
- Affected U.K. and Canada Customers – Also compromised personal data of 400,000 customers in U.K. and 100,000 people in Canada
- How It Happened – Hackers exploited vulnerability of U.S. website application to gain access to confidential files
- Discovery Date – Discovered breach in July 29, 2017 with hack occurring between mid-May and July
- Actions Taken – Worked with independent cybersecurity firm to assess impact of breach, reported incident to law enforcement, opened website where consumers can get more information, and offered free credit monitoring service to those affected
- Potential Violation – Three executives, including chief financial officer, sold shares worth $1.8 million between time of discovery of breach to public announcement, to which Equifax denied executives had knowledge of incident at time shares were sold
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