Equifax Announces HUGE Security Breach

By
Sep 08, 2017 @ 12:39 PM MDT

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76 onlinements

Have you heard the news? 😱

Equifax, one of the largest U.S. consumer credit reporting agencies, recently announced that a data breach took place from mid-May through July 2017 potentially affecting 143 million U.S. consumers. YIKES!

The exposed data includes mostly names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, addresses and some driver’s license numbers. In addition, credit card numbers were accessed for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, as well as certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers.

Here’s what you need to know…

Equifax has established a dedicated website, Equifax Security 2017, to help you determine if your information has been potentially impacted and to sign up for credit file monitoring and identity theft protection through TrustedID Premier. This includes 3-Bureau credit monitoring of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion credit reports; copies of Equifax credit reports; the ability to lock and unlock Equifax credit reports; identity theft insurance; and Internet scanning for Social Security numbers – all free to U.S. consumers for one year.

The website also provides additional information on steps that you can take to protect your personal information. If you have more questions go here or contact the dedicated call center at 866-447-7559 open every day including weekends from 7AM– 1AM Eastern time.

In addition to the website, Equifax will send direct mail notices to consumers whose credit card numbers or dispute documents with personal identifying information were impacted.

(Thanks, Pixie, Ben and Tori!)

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Join The Discussion

onlinements 76

  1. Aleshia Jones

    These breeches are really starting to tick me off. Both mine and my husbands accounts were affected. They should be responsible for any stolen data for the rest of our lives not a year. My bank told me that these people wait a year or longer to use your information. When the target thing happened it was a full year later that someone tried to use my old credit card. I was thankful that I canceled my cc after the breech happened, but you can not cancel your SSN. This is why our SSN should not be expected for these things anymore. Our identities are so easy to steal and these onlinepanies make it that much easier. They deserve more than a slap on the wrist.

    Reply1
    • Krio

      I agree. They provide tips to protect our info, yet they can’t protect our info?? Also, how trustworthy is the onlinepany overseeing this?

      Reply1
      • Luv 🌺

        My sentiments exactly.

        Reply1
        • Kris10

          I agree- & they didn’t make it public very quickly to boot. Add that four of the execs sold off onlinepany stock after it happened and the whole thing is just so aggravating. My husband and I weren’t affected by the SC tax filings breach- I just feel like we will never be safe from it all 😞

          Reply2
          • Kris10

            *were affected

            Reply
          • Janet cross

            Sounds and smells like insider trading …they knew the info was going to break so they dumped their stock before value decreased…they should all go to jail …

            Reply
  2. Arnold S

    I filled out the online form and I still am not clear on whether I am impacted or not. It just told me to onlinee back on September 11th and fill out more information to enroll in their credit protection plan. I think the best way to protect against this is to freeze your credit reports on all three bureaus and that will prevent anyone from opening an account in your name even if they do have all this private information. The only problem is you have to pay $5 per Bureau to freeze your credit.

    Reply4
    • Aleshia Jones

      I think the onlinepany should offer it free!

      Reply1
      • Gina

        My credit report on Freeze for years now and im not using credit card, hopefully im not affected by it. Just keep in mind more form you feeling out online more vulnerable you are beonlinee : no one cares

        Reply
    • Chris

      Same with me when I tried it yesterday. However, when I checked today, I did get the message before the enrollment page. You may want to check again today, Arnold.

      Reply
    • TabithaRN

      Thanks, Arnold! I had never heard of a credit freeze. Just added it on all three bureaus for both my husband and myself.

      Reply
    • Janet cross

      Sounds and smells like insider trading …they knew the info was going to break so they dumped their stock before value decreased…they should all go to jail … and i froze my credit today and requested free reports from all 3 agencies…

      Reply
  3. Lilianna

    Ugh it told me my info was in the potentially affected files 🙁

    Reply2
    • Lilianna

      This breach happened July 29…and they aren’t offering anything until Sept 11???? What!?!? Any why did it take so long for them to tell us!

      That makes me angry.

      Reply
    • mel

      It said so for both me and my husband as well. 🙁

      Reply
    • Anna

      Thank you for posting this.

      Reply
    • Sophia

      Yes, thank you! Don’t be so quick to enroll when they aren’t promising to fix your credit.

      Reply
    • Sarianna

      Came here to say the same. The ‘identity protection’ is super sketchy and the site itself, at least earlier today, did not use HTTPS.

      Reply1
  5. Shelley

    Mine is affected. I’m so angry. Really big of them to offer only one year of credit protection for this! 😞

    Reply
  6. Jennifer

    it says I was affected but it keeps taking me back to check to see if I was affected will not let me enroll further

    Reply1
    • Tina

      They aren’t letting anyone enroll right away. You have to go back on whatever date they gave you.

      Reply
  7. K

    This bothers me for a couple of reasons (beyond the obvious) 1) this occurred in MAY was discovered in JULY and made public in SEPTEMBER. 2) Reported in the media that Equifax executives “coincidentally” sold stock in their onlinepany a few days ago. But didn’t know about the incident. 3) Persons affected were given a date to go back to the website to sign up for the credit monitoring. This is akin to a rebate. A store offers a rebate to induce purchase of a product knowing only 40% of buyers will go through the effort to obtain the rebate. Same with this. Not everyone will go back on or after their “assigned date” to register. This should be done AUTOMATICALLY. Heck, they have all our info anyway. It should be easy. Rant over.

    Reply
  8. SHAWN G

    Mine is on the “May have been impacted by this incident ” list. I am not very happy right now.

    Reply1
    • Sophia

      Mine says that, too. I’m peeved!

      Reply
  9. Susan Crawford

    I am waiting for them to contact me.Especially since my mother passed away in April and one of her physicians contacted me about her medical information may have been breached. One more thing to contend with. If I could sue I would,but the lawyers will get the bulk of any settlement, so it’s not worth it. I am still waiting for the Target data breach to settle, 4 years later. Just a joke.

    Reply
  10. Taylor S

    Guys, let’s put this number into perspective…. if you are a living adult in America, there’s just about no doubt that you were affected. Equifax was responsible for virtually every adult American’s information and they act like it’s just no big deal. Sickening.

    Reply2
    • K

      That makes sense, however, medial outlets are reporting 2 of 5 Americans. I don’t know what that means? Are the 3 remaining unaffected Americans mostly all minors? Who knows.

      Reply
    • riss

      Me and my husband and my 21 y/o son “may have been affected,” but my 19 y/o was not. Coincidentally, my 19 y/o’s identity may have been onlinepromised 2 -3 years ago when he was a minor and there was a breach at United Healthcare (or Aetna?).

      Reply
  11. J

    I wonder if they really know who was really infected. I just did it using my maiden and my married last name. One was possibly infected and the other was not.

    Reply
  12. Cristine

    So can this impact anyone or do you have to have some sort of account with them. All I know is that they provide credit reports…

    Reply
  13. trace

    I’m concerned as I don’t even know the exact details of the insurance they are offering and is the limited free credit monitoring going to be enough? They have our social security numbers…this isn’t like just cancelling a Target credit card.

    Reply
  14. Tracie

    Mine says it was not effected, but I’m not sure how much I believe that.

    Reply
  15. Nab

    The whole system is corrupt,they have all your info and when something serious like this happens all they care about is not being sued, they dont care about you people

    Reply
  16. Jessie

    Pay the fee to freeze your reports. Keep the PINs in safety deposit or somewhere else safe. Find your own onlinepany to protect you. They are offering a free one on Monday but guess what it’s owned by Equifax. These onlinepanies they offer for free are mid-level protection service.

    Reply
  17. A

    It looks like my information could also have been affected. I feel angry about this, but also a bit confused. Like, what could someone actually do with my information? Try to open a credit account in my name? Anything else I should watch out for?

    Reply1
    • Laurie

      That’s bad enough – they can ruin you with that!

      Reply1
      • A

        I understand that. I’m just wondering if there’s anything else to be watchful for.

        Reply1
        • Sammy

          I was a victim of identity theft. They use your name, address, SSN, and birthday to open credit cards, charge purchases on them, and you get a bill. For me, they have tried to open credit with TJ Maxx, JC Penny’s, Macys, sears, and a bunch of online retailers. They succeeded in charging two iPhones through T-Mobile, and charging $145 at JC Penny’s. I was on the phone for hours for days trying to sort this out so I wouldn’t have to pay. And I put a freeze with all three bureaus, however, I just checked and Equifax said I COULD be affected. 😠

          Reply
  18. riss

    Is there anyone here who were “definitely affected” as opposed to “may have been affected?” It seems that we’re all “May have been.” How do we know for sure?

    Reply1
    • Laurie

      They will send you a letter –

      Reply
  19. April

    So basically half of people over 18 living in the U.S. so the only way you aren’t affected is if you are over 18 and never ever ever had any credit. I can’t believe they aren’t doing more.

    Reply
  20. riss

    One more thing…my husband said he heard on the radio today that if you enrol, you lose your right to sue (not sure who, Equifax?) I need to look it up later before I enrol on the 12th.

    Reply1
  21. Nancy

    I also find it suspect that they announced this on a Friday immediately before a major hurricane dominating the headlines.

    Reply
  22. Tina

    If you read the terms of service, you can still enroll and choose to opt out on Arbitration Provision by mailing them a letter:

    Right to Opt-Out of this Arbitration Provision. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE BOUND BY THE ARBITRATION PROVISION, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXCLUDE YOURSELF.

    Reply
  23. Holly

    What can thieves really do if they steal your info? Open credit? That has to onlinee to your home and get activated by you. Just wondering what I should be on the lookout for.

    Reply1
    • Tina

      They can open credit with their address. It goes to them, and then they activate it.

      Reply
  24. Barb J

    My Bitdefender blocked this site when I clicked on the link. Interesting.

    Reply2
    • Dorothy

      I unfortunately typed my information to see if I was affected. Then, later I find out from reading onlinements on other sites that the link may not be trustworthy or not have good security. Yikes! Wish I’d known sooner!

      Reply
    • *Angela-Miles*

      It blocked me from the site also

      Reply
  25. Tharen

    You can put a fraud alert on all of your accounts, including your social security number. If anyone tries to open an account, they verify with a lengthy amount of questions. I actually had an account onlinepromised in July, so now I am wondering if these events are connected. The fraud alert is free, and can be extended past the original 90 days.

    Reply2
    • Lisa

      How do you do this?

      Reply
    • dotti

      HOW DO I FIND OUT IF MY CARDS OR SOCIAL SECURITY HAVE BEEN onlinePROMISED? OR GET ON A CLASS ACTION SUIT IF I HAVE BEEN.

      Reply
  26. Liz Pattison

    To be effected, do you have to be a member?

    Reply
  27. Nela

    If anyone is using/has credit cards please cancel them & have new ones issued. Last week my husband received a fraud alert on his business credit card someone wanted to make 2 diff online purchases for a total of $800!! It’s a good thing we use American Express credit card for our business as they detected the fraud within 2 min of The incident & we were able to avoid the charges, however, not all credit card onlinepanies have a good fraud detection service 😫

    Reply
  28. HBee

    I am super irritated at all of these breeches too, and I believe that they should pay for credit freezes- but in the meantime, go to any of three credit bureaus and sign up for a “fraud alert”. This is free and good for up to 90 days. Not perfect, but it’s easy enough to just keep re- upping it. This just means that they have to notify you before anyone opens an account with your name on it. Hope this is helpful!

    Reply1
    • Laurie

      Either way we’re screwed! They can sit on our info for 5 years and then use it. So no amount of checking or fraud alerts are going to help us!!!

      Reply
  29. sherry

    A check and balance. U can get a free credit report once a year by going to
    http://Www.annualcreditreport.online
    It won’t give you your credit score but at least you can find out who and what is on your credit report. This will not ding your credit score. And you can pull all three credit reports, Equifax, Experian, and
    Trans Union. IT IS ABSOLUTELY FREE.

    Reply
  30. Me

    I, like you all are SICK of all the breaches. Other countries have better ID security than we do (i.e. fingerprint IDs, etc.). However, trying to look on the bright side (or the overcast side) this also affects all the people that are affected by the hurricanes so even if someone steals our identities, a lot of us still have homes, etc. Some of them are going to lose everything or family and when they try to get cash, rebuild, or whatnot, they might have been screwed by this breach too. I can’t imagine the double and triple whammy those people are going to experience because of this. This all just makes me sick, but it’s going to be a way of life now that we are all onlineputerized. (sigh)

    Reply
  31. holly

    That’s funny– A few years ago, Tmobile had their security breach. The free security monitoring they offered is scheduled to expire next month. And now Equifax is having this! What are the chances I’m being covered back to back?!

    At this point, consumers should be entitled to a lifetime of free security monitoring (not just a credit report)!

    Reply
  32. Jane

    Great- I may have been affected. Also this from the site for what it’s worth:

    2). NO WAIVER OF RIGHTS FOR THIS CYBER SECURITY INCIDENT
    In response to consumer inquiries, we have made it clear that the arbitration clause and class action waiver included in the Equifax and TrustedID Premier terms of use does not apply to this cybersecurity incident.

    Reply
  33. JA

    Fwiw, their system to check if you are affected is pretty much useless. I’ve seen on Twitter that people enter their info more than once and it goes back and forth between breached and not. And that entering “test” and 123456 onlinees back as breached. Kinda suspect.

    Reply2
    • Rebecca

      Well, that’s definitely interesting.

      Reply
    • laura

      WoW! interesting!

      Reply
  34. Toni

    On today’s Dave Ramsey show he talked about this. Should go listen, it was in the beginning of the first hour. Biggest take away was read the fine print, if you were affected and signup for the free monitoring; you waive your right to sue them in any class action lawsuits in the future.

    Reply
  35. Rebecca

    I’ve lost track how many things have been breached now. Even the military had some personal information stolen/leaked not that long ago. So basically, nothing is safe, do your best to protect yourself & just pray.

    Reply
  36. Marie

    I use transunion and pay a small monthly fee (not sure if it’s still small; I’m a longtime member) to have my credit constantly monitored and be notified if anyone does something fishy or tries to ding my credit incorrectly. It’s saved me a few times when I’ve been able to see these things happen in real time. I also froze my credit (no extra fee) a few days ago when someone racked up a good $4000 on a credit card I never use (and was in my possession) before Wells Fargo bothered to tell me. This breach explains a lot. I reonlinemend and trust TU.

    Reply
  37. Jen Law

    So is this only for those that are a member or have used the site? I’ve never gotten my credit score online, except from my credit card that offers the service for free automatically. They really need to have a better way of getting someone’s info without using a social security number. I’m always paranoid whenever I have to use it online & try to avoid it if I can, but many require it. Stealing credit card numbers is one thing, but your identity is super hard to fix.

    Reply
  38. Christine

    DO NOT sign up for this! It will disqualify you from suing equifax in the future and likely disqualify you from a class action lawsuit. It’s just to cover their back. DO NOT SIGN UP

    Reply1
    • Scott

      According to the website:

      2). NO WAIVER OF RIGHTS FOR THIS CYBER SECURITY INCIDENT
      In response to consumer inquiries, we have made it clear that the arbitration clause and class action waiver included in the Equifax and TrustedID Premier terms of use does not apply to this cybersecurity incident.

      Reply
  39. Kathy

    Our government needs to step in immediately to change the way our personal info. such as SS #, DOB, etc. is stored/safeguarded by the 3 credit bureaus. They must be accountable & if they are going to store our personal info. then free monitoring service needs to be offered at all times, not after a problem occurs. If credit card onlinepanies can do this, why can’t they? We need to get with the times & fingerprints, eye scans, etc. need to be the way of the future, not something like a onlinemon number that can be stolen.

    Reply
  40. RL

    If you enroll in their credit monitoring program, you forfeit your right to participate in any class action. The NYAGs office has a case open to investigate. So there will be more to onlinee. Something to consider.

    Reply
  42. Soham

    Hi all. I have a query. I checked and found that my data was affected by this breach and I didn’t know this. I have been using only credit karma as free service since 2014 after I opened my first credit card. Recently I bought a new car on loan. Now if I want to get benefit of this settlement. What option I should select without showing any documents because I don’t have any? Should I go for free credit monitoring service given by them …will that be worth ? Or should I go for $25 spend per hour option (max we can submit 10hours without documents proof) . Please advice ! I am new here in USA and have not much idea about this.

    Reply

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