Equifax Data Breach Exposed More Info than Originally Communicated

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According to new documents given to lawmakers, the massive Equifax data breach of last year exposed more consumer data than was originally communicated to the public.

Last September, Equifax announced that a massive data breach exposed the sensitive personal information of around 143 million Americans, prompting lawsuits to pile up across the nation.

At that time, the company claimed that the compromised information included names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, some driver’s license numbers and some credit card numbers.

This week, CBS News reported that Equifax recently shared a document with the Senate Banking Committee that the information exposed in the September breach was more than originally reported. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office shared the document with the Associated Press, and the Wall Street Journal was the first to report on additional information about the breach.

The new document reports that the exposed information also included tax identification numbers, email addresses and phone numbers, as well as more intricate details like credit card expiration dates and issuing states for driver’s licenses.

The company did come under fire in previous class action lawsuits for allegedly being unhelpful to consumers affected by the breach, not taking adequate security measures to protect consumer information, and for not addressing the breach in a timely manner. Reportedly, Equifax waited for months before notifying consumers that a breach had occurred.

CBS suggests that the fact that the new document was not shared directly with Equifax consumers, and only with the press, “adds to the string of missteps the company has made in recovering from the security debacle,” and reveals the extent of the sensitive information that Equifax maintains about its customers.

Equifax spokesperson Meredith Griffanti claims that “in no way did [Equifax] intend to mislead consumers” and that last year, the company intentionally revealed only the info that impacted the greatest number of consumers in an effort to provide “clarity” about the nature of the breach.

As CBS reports, Griffanti goes on to stress that the newly revealed compromised information only impacts a small number of Equifax consumers, and called attention to the fact that some information, like passport numbers, were not stolen.

Since the September breach, Equifax has taken a number of steps to repair its image, including replacing its CEO. The company has reportedly taken steps to both rectify the breach and prevent future ones. 

One such effort included launching a service that allowed consumers to lock and unlock their credit reports as desired. However, according to testers at the New York Times, the service was “unusable in many ways.” Equifax is still contending with hundreds of consumer lawsuits as well as regulatory investigations.

UPDATE: On July 30, 2018, Equifax Inc. asked a Georgia federal judge to dismiss claims brought by 10 small businesses in a massive data breach class action lawsuit because businesses cannot bring claims based on the alleged injuries of the business owners.

UPDATE 2: July 2019, a website has been established to inform Class Members of their rights under a $700 million Equifax data breach class action settlement.

UPDATE 3: July 2019, the Equifax data breach class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 4: On Nov. 19, 2019, the class action watchdog Center for Class Action Fairness filed an objection to the Equifax data breach class action settlement, claiming that the attorney fee request should be reduced and that the settling parties suppressed the claims process.

UPDATE 5: On Dec. 20, 2019, a federal judge gave a $425 million Equifax class action settlement final approval despite objections from consumer advocacy groups.