“This Is About as Bad as It Gets” – Equifax Security Breach Could Affect 143 Million Americans

The Atlanta-based credit reporting agency Equifax has announced a devastating security breach that could potentially result in 143 million Americans – about half of the country’s population – having their personal, sensitive information made public. The breach occurred sometime between May and July of this year, but the full effects of the hack are just now becoming public.

From the New York Times:

“[H]ackers were also able to retrieve names, birth dates and addresses. Credit card numbers for 209,000 consumers were stolen, while documents with personal information used in disputes for 182,000 people were also taken.

Other cyberattacks, such as the two breaches that Yahoo announced in 2016, have eclipsed the penetration at Equifax in sheer size, but the Equifax attack is worse in terms of severity. Thieves were able to siphon far more personal information — the keys that unlock consumers’ medical histories, bank accounts and employee accounts.”

In the words of Pamela Dixon, the executive director of the nonprofit research group World Privacy Forum, “this is about as bad as it gets.”

To add insult to injury, CBS News is also reporting that “Chief Financial Officer John Gamble and two other executives, Rodolfo Ploder and Joseph Loughran, sold their shares on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2, just days after Equifax detected the hack on July 29” to the tune of $1.8 million.” The company claims its executives didn’t know about the breach when they sold the shares, which have dropped 13% since the public announcement of the breach.

Security breaches are becoming a way of life

2017 has been a particularly bad year for data breaches. Gmail was hit this year, as were the University of Oklahoma, Washington State University and Blue Cross Blue Shield/Anthem. Verizon also suffered a breach in July. Bloomberg reported that 2016 was a “record year for data breaches” – the Democratic National Committee’s breach is still making headlines – with a 40% increase from the number of breaches in 2015.

The problem has been getting steadily worse for the last few years. In 2014, Target and Home Depot were both victims of a cyber security attack. Harris Lowry Manton LLP served as co-counsel for both of those cases, obtaining a $19.5 million settlement from Home Depot in 2016.

This may be the worst security breach Equifax has faced – indeed, perhaps among the worst any company has ever faced – but it is certainly not the first time the reporting agency has been hit. Earlier this year and in 2016, thieves were able to steal “W-2 tax and salary data” from the company and one of its subsidiaries.

I think my information has been stolen; what do I do?

If you want to check whether or not you were affected by the breach, Equifax has set up its own program – but it is not a particularly easy one to follow. You can find a step-by-step explanation here, to help you through the process. You can also go directly to the Equifax website and learn more.

However, you should note that if you sign up for Equifax’s monitoring, you are agreeing to submit to arbitration unless you opt out. The Wall Street Journal reports:

“The fine print in the Equifax agreement concerning the monitoring services said that consumers who take part waive the ability to bring or participate in a class-action suit, a class arbitration or other similar legal actions. That seemed to suggest that consumers would be bound to an individual arbitration process with the company, which some argue is a more difficult place for consumer to get larger rewards for their problems.”

But there are other steps you can take. C|net (who created those step-by-step instructions) put together a guide for protecting yourself, and recommends the following three steps:

1. Request a free credit report from all three credit reporting agencies (even Equifax).
2. Freeze your credit to prevent hackers from opening up accounts in your name.
3. Sign up for a free 90-day fraud alert.

The next few months may be a struggle, if the effects of the Equifax breach are as wide-ranging as the worst-case scenarios say. Stay vigilant, and make sure you account for all of your spending. If you are a victim of the hack, you may have legal options available to you – and you will want an attorney who knows how to build a successful case against companies whose negligent cyber security practices landed you in trouble in the first place.

In Georgia, those attorneys can be found at Harris Lowry Manton LLP. To learn more about our services, please our Atlanta office at 404-961-7650, our Savannah office at 912-651-9967, or fill out our contact form.