Credit reporting firm Equifax says data breach could potentially affect 143 million US consumers

emmjay · Sep 9, 2019

ronjor said: ↑

Another article.

Equifax is going to make you work for that 125 bucks it owes each of you: Biz sneaks out Friday night rule change
Click to expand...

Depressing! It makes a person question the need for government agencies that have no teeth and that are administered by morons.

guest · Sep 20, 2019

200,000 Sign Petition Against Equifax Data Breach Settlement
September 20, 2019
https://www.securityweek.com/200000-sign-petition-against-equifax-data-breach-settlement

Over 200,000 people have signed a petition demanding that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) holds Equifax properly accountable for the data breach that impacted 148 million Americans in 2017.

“Factually, this settlement is so riddled with holes that consumers applying for ‘their share’ will never see a penny, let alone $125,” says Charles Kokoska, who started the petition in an attempt to determine authorities to hold Equifax properly accountable for its mistakes.
Also noting that Equifax had been warned before the incident that it should improve security and that the company chose to ignore these warnings, Kokoska asks interested parties to sign the petition to ensure Equifax does not escape liability.
Click to expand...

guest · Oct 19, 2019

Equifax used 'admin' as username and password for sensitive data: lawsuit
October 18, 2019
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/equifax-password-username-admin-lawsuit-201118316.html

Equifax (EFX) used the word “admin” as both password and username for a portal that contained sensitive information, according to a class action lawsuit filed in federal court in the Northern District of Georgia.
The lawsuit, filed in January, went viral on Twitter Friday after Buzzfeed reporter Jane Lytvynenko came across the detail.

“Equifax employed the username ‘admin’ and the password ‘admin’ to protect a portal used to manage credit disputes, a password that ‘is a surefire way to get hacked,’” the lawsuit reads.
When Equifax, one of the three largest consumer credit reporting agencies, did encrypt data, the lawsuit alleges, “it left the keys to unlocking the encryption on the same public-facing servers, making it easy to remove the encryption from the data.”

The details from his Equifax class-action suit are BONKERS https://t.co/SBDumoufDf pic.twitter.com/iI0I41lAAN
— Jane Lytvynenko (@JaneLytv) October 18, 2019
Click to expand...

ronjor · Dec 19, 2019

If you made a claim for $125 from Equifax, you’re not getting it after court awards nearly $80 million to attorneys

Megan Leonhardt Dec 19 2019
If you filed for a cash payout from Equifax as part of the credit bureau’s settlement for its massive 2017 data breach, you’re probably not getting anywhere close to $125.
On Thursday, Dec. 19, a Georgia federal judge awarded $77.5 million to the attorneys representing the class of consumers against Equifax. That’s over 20% of the roughly $380 million settlement fund Equifax agreed to set up to directly help consumers affected by the breach, according to the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, which house the Center for Class Action Fairness and opposed the high fee award.
Click to expand...

ronjor · Jan 15, 2020

Equifax Settles Mega-Breach Lawsuit for $1.38 Billion

Jeremy Kirk (jeremy_kirk) January 15, 2020
Federal Judge Gives Final Approval to Class-Action Settlement Over 2017 Breach
Click to expand...

guest · Feb 10, 2020

Justice Department charges Chinese nationals over Equifax hack
February 10, 2020
https://www.cnet.com/news/justice-department-charges-chinese-nationals-over-equifax-hack/

On Monday morning, the Justice Department announced that it was charging four members of China's People's Liberation Army over the Equifax hack, one of the largest data breaches in US history.

The 2017 cyberattack affected 147.7 million Americans, where hackers stole names, Social Security numbers, birthdates and addresses. In July 2019, the credit-monitoring agency settled with the Federal Trade Commission to pay at least $575 million over its security failures.
At the time, Equifax's then-CEO Rick Smith blamed a months-old server flaw that the company failed to patch.

This is a breaking news story, please continue to check for updates.
Click to expand...

Forbes: Chinese Government Hackers Charged With Massive Equifax Hack

The defendants have been named as Wu Zhiyong, Wang Qian, Xu Kei and Liu Lei. They’re allegedly members of China’s People’s Liberation Army.

They’re charged with breaking into an Equifax dispute portal. The four spent several weeks determining how to break into the Equifax database behind that portal website, making as many as 9,000 queries to obtain U.S. citizens’ data, including their names and social security numbers, the Justice Department announced Monday.

According to the DOJ, the defendants took significant steps to hide their tracks, routing their web traffic from the compromised Equifax servers through 34 servers and 20 countries.

“This was a deliberate and sweeping intrusion into the private information of the American people,” said attorney general William Barr.
Click to expand...

DoJ: Chinese Military Personnel Charged with Computer Fraud, Economic Espionage and Wire Fraud for Hacking into Credit Reporting Agency Equifax

hawki · Feb 10, 2020

mood said: ↑

Justice Department charges Chinese nationals over Equifax hack
February 10, 2020
Click to expand...

Reminder:

"With a series of major hacks, China builds a database on Americans

China is building massive databases of Americans’ personal information by hacking government agencies and U.S. health-care companies, using a high-tech tactic to achieve an age-old goal of espionage: recruiting spies or gaining more information on an adversary, U.S. officials and analysts say...

Groups of hackers working for the Chinese government have compromised the networks of the Office of Personnel Management, which holds data on millions of current and former federal employees, as well as the health insurance giant Anthem, among other targets, the officials and researchers said..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...af51fa-0ba3-11e5-95fd-d580f1c5d44e_story.html

hawki · Feb 10, 2020

mood said: ↑

Justice Department charges Chinese nationals over Equifax hack
February 10, 2020
Click to expand...

FYI:

The Indictment:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/cont...-746d392297df/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_13

hawki · Feb 10, 2020

Pics: The Chinese nationals charged in Equifax indictment :

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-a.../public/DVZEVOCMEYI6VFT34B2NGAWH2Q.jpg&w=1440

Clockwise from top left: Wang Qian, Xu Ke, Wu Zhiyong and Liu Lei. The four, all members of the Chinese military, were charged with computer fraud, economic espionage and Wire Fraud. (FBI)

hawki · Feb 11, 2020

mood said: ↑

Justice Department charges Chinese nationals over Equifax hack
February 10, 2020
Click to expand...

"China's Hacking Spree Will Have a Decades-Long Fallout - Equifax. Anthem. Marriott. OPM. The data that China has amassed about US citizens will power its intelligence activities for a generation....

China’s alleged hacking efforts have borne fruit just as big data and artificial intelligence combine to make those massive databases useful, sortable, and studiable...

Indeed, what has long worried intelligence professionals as the scope of China’s data ambitions became clear is not the size of each individual theft...it’s the ways that the layers of the data build upon one another...

The data and its layers work both to identify existing US intelligence officers through their personnel records and travel patterns, as well to identify potential weaknesses—through background checks, credit scores, and health records—of intelligence targets China may someday hope to recruit...

US officials now worry whether they can work undercover overseas at all. The effort required to circumvent China’s data trove, advances in biometric identifiers, and facial recognition at border crossings and on street corners seems increasingly Sisyphean..."

https://www.wired.com/story/china-equifax-anthem-marriott-opm-hacks-data/

guest · Feb 25, 2020

Equifax indictment shows Chinese hackers can't hide, DOJ official says
February 25, 2020
https://www.cyberscoop.com/equifax-indictment-china-john-demers/

Chinese hackers took pains to cover their fingerprints in allegedly hacking credit monitoring agency Equifax in 2017, but a senior Department of Justice official says an indictment unsealed earlier this month shows the smokescreen didn’t work.

“They’re always going to try to make our job harder,” John Demers, the assistant attorney general for national security, said Monday at San Francisco CyberTalks presented by CyberScoop.
The charges against four officials in China’s People’s Liberation Army for allegedly stealing data on some 145 million Americans from Equifax show just how determined the hackers were in infiltrating a U.S. company (China’s foreign ministry rejected the allegations).
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 14, 2020

mood said: ↑

Indiana AG files lawsuit over 2017 Equifax data breach
May 6, 2019
https://www.theindychannel.com/news...g-files-lawsuit-over-2017-equifax-data-breach
Click to expand...

Indiana Secures $19M in Equifax Settlement
April 14, 2020
https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/42006728/indiana-secures-dollar19m-in-equifax-settlement

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill’s office has announced the state will get $19.5 million under a settlement reached with Equifax. The settlement follows Indiana’s lawsuit against Equifax, one of the world’s largest credit-reporting bureaus, over its massive 2017 data breach.

According to Hill's office, Indiana was one of two states that choose to file separate lawsuits instead of joining the multistate settlement in July 2019. Hill says Indiana’s total settlement amount is more than any of the 48 participating states.
Hill's office says the full amount of the state's settlement will provide restitution payments to impacted consumers.

“Equifax failed to adequately protect Indiana residents whose personal information was exposed by the breach,” Hill said. “We have worked diligently to hold Equifax accountable and achieve the best possible resolution. Equifax has agreed to correct its security deficiencies and properly safeguard consumers’ information in the future.”
Click to expand...

guest · May 18, 2020

Equifax finally coughs up the money for its 2017 monster hack… to the banks for having to cancel your cards
What did happen to the $125 everyone was promised?
May 18, 2020
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/18/equifax_coughs_up/

Equifax has finally agreed to pay compensation for the massive security breach it suffered in 2017 that led to the theft of at least 146 million people's personal info.

But before you get excited, the money won’t be going to you, but rather to your bank, which will be paid for the hassle of having to cancel your payment cards.
The credit agency has agreed [PDF] to pay $5.5m to thousands of banks and credit unions who said they were injured by their customers’ details being siphoned off by hackers, and a further $25m to beef up data security.

So while Equifax settles with states, and banks, and hopefully those consumers who rejected the FTC’s terrible deal, it seems that no money will be forthcoming for those who have gone to the trouble of trying to get the $125 they were promised.
Click to expand...

guest · Oct 23, 2020

Court approves final settlement in Equifax data breach suit
October 22, 2020
https://news.cuna.org/articles/118613-court-approves-final-settlement-in-equifax-data-breach-suit

The court has granted final approval to the settlement agreement reached in the Equifax data breach lawsuit, of which CUNA, Leagues and credit unions are plaintiffs. The deadline to file a claim is Dec. 31.

CUNA filed suit against Equifax in October 2017 after a data breach that exposed the personal information of more than 145 million consumers and 209,000 credit card numbers.
All information and forms required to make a claim are available on the settlement website.

The settlement provides up to $4.50 per alerted-on payment card as well as up to $5,000 per financial institution for its documented damages claim resulting from PII theft for class members. The total amount being offered for these two components is $5.5 million.
Click to expand...

Equifax has also agreed to spend $25 million to enhance its data security measures and compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).
Click to expand...

hawki · Feb 11, 2022

"No, that email from Equifax is not a scam. You are entitled to free credit monitoring for four years...

An email with the subject line, “Equifax Breach Settlement (Credit Monitoring Instructions and Activation Code)”...

Equifax, without admitting guilt, agreed [in 2019] to a settlement with the FTC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and 50 states and territories. Part of that settlement was providing credit monitoring. Because of appeals, the settlement was not finalized until last month. Now millions of people who filed a claim are getting an email from the settlement administrator asking them to sign up for free credit monitoring for four years, which covers their files at all three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...ata-breach-settlement-free-credit-monitoring/

hawki · Aug 2, 2022

"Equifax reveals $25 million stock award to CEO hours after report of inaccurate credit scores...

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Equifax provided inaccurate credit scores for millions of consumers in a three-week period earlier this year, potentially affecting their ability to receive loans. In a statement, Equifax admitted 'a coding issue within a legacy, on-premise server environment in the U.S.,' but said 'that there was no shift in the vast majority of scores.'..."

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/e...e-credit-scores-11659478377?mod=mw_latestnews

ronjor · Aug 4, 2022

Class-action suit filed against Equifax after millions of scores were affected by glitch

By Rob Wile Aug. 4, 2022
The credit bureau said it had unintentionally sent faulty scores to lenders, resulting in higher interest rates and application denials for some consumers.
Click to expand...

xxJackxx · Aug 4, 2022

ronjor said: ↑

Class-action suit filed against Equifax after millions of scores were affected by glitch
Click to expand...

Bad deal. I assume those that got higher interest rates are probably stuck with them for the term of the loan. Hopefully they'll have to compensate.

ronjor · Dec 20, 2022

The Equifax Breach Settlement Offer is Real, For Now

December 20, 2022
Millions of people likely just received an email or snail mail notice saying they’re eligible to claim a class action payment in connection with the 2017 megabreach at consumer credit bureau Equifax. Given the high volume of reader inquiries about this, it seemed worth pointing out that while this particular offer is legit (if paltry), scammers are likely to soon capitalize on public attention to the settlement money.
Click to expand...

stapp · Oct 13, 2023

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Equifax a smidge over £11 million ($13.6 million) for severe failings that put millions of consumers at risk of financial crime.
The regulator branded the entire debacle "entirely preventable" – from Equifax's failure to promptly notify regulators to the way in which it misled the public over the severity of a security breach back in 2017.
Click to expand...

https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/13/equifax_fca_fine/

Log in or Sign up

Credit reporting firm Equifax says data breach could potentially affect 143 million US consumers

emmjay Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

ronjor Global Moderator

ronjor Global Moderator

guest Guest

hawki Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

hawki Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

ronjor Global Moderator

xxJackxx Registered Member

ronjor Global Moderator

stapp Global Moderator

Log in or Sign up

Credit reporting firm Equifax says data breach could potentially affect 143 million US consumers

emmjay Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

ronjor Global Moderator

ronjor Global Moderator

guest Guest

hawki Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

hawki Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

ronjor Global Moderator

xxJackxx Registered Member

ronjor Global Moderator

stapp Global Moderator

Useful Searches