Equifax Data Breach: 143 Million Records Exposed But Senior Executives Not Told Immediately?

Equifax has joined Yahoo on the podium for the award no one wants: suffering one of the largest data breaches in history.

Equifax, one of the three largest US credit reporting agencies, announced last week that it suffered a cybersecurity incident potentially impacting 143 million US consumers - a figure comprising of roughly 55 per cent of Americans aged 18 years or older. Some UK and Canadian residents are also affected.

Hackers gained access via a website application vulnerability to information including names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses, drivers licence numbers, credit card numbers and dispute documents with personal identifying information.

The risk to consumers in having this information exposed is huge: it is the key to unlock medical histories, bank accounts and employee accounts. Armed with personal data, identity thieves can impersonate people with lenders, creditors and service providers, who rely on personal information to make financial decisions regarding potential customers.

Incredibly, the breach lasted for almost 2 months before it was discovered in late July. It's also not the first time Equifax's vulnerabilities have been exploited. Last year, hackers siphoned employee tax and salary data from an Equifax website. Earlier this year, hackers again stole employee tax data from an Equifax subsidiary TALX.

Equifax has created a website, www.equifaxsecurity2017.com, to help consumers determine whether their data is at risk. However consumers have reported difficulties contacting Equifax as well as the other main credit...