The share price of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) was down 13.05% after the noon hour on September 8 following a massive data breach by hackers that potentially exposed 143 million U.S. citizens, Canadians, and some in the United Kingdom. Equifax discovered the breach on July 29 and that social security numbers and drivers’ license numbers are some of the customer information that may have been stolen.
Equifax launched a website application for customers to check if their information was stolen. In order to access this application customers are forced to sign what appears to be a waiver that would prevent them from participating in a future class-action lawsuit. In any case, the “TrustedID” application has not worked for all customers as Equifax still works to comprehend the scale of the breach and all who have been affected.
Equifax has now seen almost all of its 2017 gains wiped away in one day. “If you have a credit report, chances are you may be in this breach. The chances are much better than 50%,” said Pamela Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum.
Credit card numbers for over 200,000 consumers were stolen, as well as over 150,000 documents used by customers in disputes. In terms of risk to consumers, this is considered to be of the utmost severity. Cybersecurity officials were quick to criticize Equifax for failing to improve security platforms.
Three senior executives, including chief financial officer John Gamble, sold shares worth up to $1.8 million in the days following the discovery of the breach.
