Much of the headline news of late, in the business section or otherwise, has been related to the recent hack of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) in which as many as 143 million Americans may have had their personal information compromised. After receiving many requests from concerned Canadians, the question of how widespread this hack may be for Canadians has landed on the desk of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
On Friday, the nation’s top privacy watchdog announced it has formally launched an investigation into the recent data breach, intending to quantify the scope of impact for Canadians who may have had their information compromised. This investigation has been identified as a priority for the Privacy Commissioner, as the data breach continues to remain a worry for many Canadians, especially those with dealings in the U.S.
While Equifax has reportedly been telling Canadians who have called in with concern about the data breach that they will be unaffected except for Canadians with credit files in the U.S., at least two class-action lawsuits have been filed by Canadians who believe that Equifax breached their contract with members in failing to secure the personal information of the site’s patrons.
Over the past two weeks, Equifax has lost approximately 35% of its market value, and continues to slide as investors weigh just how bad the situation may be at the credit monitoring business. At this point in time, Equifax remains a very risky play for investors looking for a value play in this sector, in my opinion.
Invest wisely, my friends.
