Approximately 143 million in the U.S/Canada affected by breach into Equifax

[biffzinker]

Criminals exploited a U.S. website application vulnerability to gain access to certain files. Based on the company’s investigation, the unauthorized access occurred from mid-May through July 2017. The company has found no evidence of unauthorized activity on Equifax’s core consumer or commercial credit reporting databases.

The information accessed primarily includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers. In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers, were accessed. As part of its investigation of this application vulnerability, Equifax also identified unauthorized access to limited personal information for certain UK and Canadian residents. Equifax will work with UK and Canadian regulators to determine appropriate next steps. The company has found no evidence that personal information of consumers in any other country has been impacted.

Equifax discovered the unauthorized access on July 29 of this year and acted immediately to stop the intrusion.

https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/

Turns out I'm one of the compromised.

Based on the information provided, we believe that your personal information may have been impacted by this incident.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Ugh...these credit reporting agencies shouldn't even exist. They always were an accident waiting to happen and...well...Law of Inevitability.

...gossipers that only exist so those in power can keep the downtrodden down...

Based on the information provided, we believe that your personal information was not impacted by this incident.

I avoid dealing with the credit reporting agencies like they are the plague...because they are.

 

[remixedcat]

Abolish credit. Period. People should not live beyond their means. I never use credit. I'm 32 and still have "insufficient" credit. I prefer to keep it that way. I pay less for stuff bc lack of tacked on interest and Even though my house isn't as nice as most people's it's mine and fully paid off as well as my car. If you need credit to buy a house you need to rethink your life. Save like I do and find land contract places and fix em up. Yeah they might not be the nicest looking places and you'd have to put some work into, however it's more rewarding, you get a more custom house, and no red marks! (unless you get hurt during the rehab process! haha) Don't fall for the pretty house in the best ares where you'll be paying 1.5 million for a 300K house (bc interest and fees and HOA, etc) get a crappy house in a decent area on LC and fix it up and be debt free and you have more money to do stuff with.

 

[R-T-B]

Abolish credit. Period. People should not live beyond their means. I never use credit. I'm 32 and still have "insufficient" credit. I prefer to keep it that way. I pay less for stuff bc lack of tacked on interest and Even though my house isn't as nice as most people's it's mine and fully paid off as well as my car. If you need credit to buy a house you need to rethink your life. Save like I do and find land contract places and fix em up. Yeah they might not be the nicest looking places and you'd have to put some work into, however it's more rewarding, you get a more custom house, and no red marks! (unless you get hurt during the rehab process! haha) Don't fall for the pretty house in the best ares where you'll be paying 1.5 million for a 300K house (bc interest and fees and HOA, etc) get a crappy house in a decent area on LC and fix it up and be debt free and you have more money to do stuff with.

I don't agree with "abolish credit" but I agree credit is something pretty stupid to use in any way "beyond ones means," and sadly it's often set up that way.

And somehow I'm affected despite this philosophy. Yay.

 

[RCoon]

Half of the adult American population is affected. Basically if you have any form of credit, you probs got your information stolen.
Do not use their "have I been bamboozled" website, because it's insecure. It's using a run of the mill cert provided by the host and is in no way protecting the information you enter on that page. It's basically just another giant target protected by paper mache.

Equifax discovered the unauthorized access on July 29 of this year and acted immediately to stop the intrusion.

Well, they didn't. It took them 5 weeks to inform the correct authorities, and then the CEO and CFO's were allowed to sell their stocks for millions before it was made public knowledge, which I believe is insider knowledge, which is also illegal. They knew they were in the beans and decided to ensure their own financial safety should the company get roshambo'd.

They're also offering 1 years free credit monitoring, which is an empty gesture, since this information is now publicly available to fraudsters forever.

 

[biffzinker]

How do you know so much @RCoon ?

Well, they didn't. It took them 5 weeks to inform the correct authorities, and then the CEO and CFO's were allowed to sell their stocks for millions before it was made public knowledge

I wondered about the long stretch of time between July 29th, and now announcing the breach. Figured there was more to it.

 

[RCoon]

How do you know so much @RCoon ?

https://arstechnica.com/information...ossibly-the-worst-leak-of-personal-info-ever/
As for the illegal insider trading:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/eq...ata-breach-before-informing-public-2017-09-07

 

[DRDNA]

if you think them sites are bad just imagine what happens when they hack the obamacare website that has EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE USA IN THAT DATABASE that has every single bit of info on you and everyone is in the database even if they have never had obamacare! I feel it was done on purpose like a one stop shop for hackers!

 

[EarthDog]

Im part of the breach.

How does the obama care site have your info if you didnt sign up????

Also i thought the news said 143 million...how is that half the adults?? US has what 700M people??

 

[RCoon]

US has what 700M people??

323million. Children account for 25% of that number, the rest are adults 19+. Around 240million.

 

[EarthDog]

Wooow... 700M... where the hell did i get that from???!!!!

 

[StrayKAT]

Abolish credit. Period. People should not live beyond their means. I never use credit. I'm 32 and still have "insufficient" credit. I prefer to keep it that way. I pay less for stuff bc lack of tacked on interest and Even though my house isn't as nice as most people's it's mine and fully paid off as well as my car. If you need credit to buy a house you need to rethink your life. Save like I do and find land contract places and fix em up. Yeah they might not be the nicest looking places and you'd have to put some work into, however it's more rewarding, you get a more custom house, and no red marks! (unless you get hurt during the rehab process! haha) Don't fall for the pretty house in the best ares where you'll be paying 1.5 million for a 300K house (bc interest and fees and HOA, etc) get a crappy house in a decent area on LC and fix it up and be debt free and you have more money to do stuff with.

I agree, and not to get controversial, but this is standard thinking in many belief systems. Much of the world did it once. Medival/Catholic Europe and Islam. It worked....except for their stupid protectionism...but that's another story. I don't think there's ever been free trade AND no usury though. Not sure why.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Half of the adult American population is affected. Basically if you have any form of credit, you probs got your information stolen.
Do not use their "have I been bamboozled" website, because it's insecure. It's using a run of the mill cert provided by the host and is in no way protecting the information you enter on that page. It's basically just another giant target protected by paper mache.

It has a USERnet Trust SSL certificate and they're only asking for part of the social and last name. It's also cross-linked with Equifax itself. I'd say if you have been compromised, you'd be a fool not to enroll in their protection service. It should at least expidite cleaning up and stopping any unauthorized transactions.

Well, they didn't. It took them 5 weeks to inform the correct authorities, and then the CEO and CFO's were allowed to sell their stocks for millions before it was made public knowledge, which I believe is insider knowledge, which is also illegal. They knew they were in the beans and decided to ensure their own financial safety should the company get roshambo'd.

Hopefully SEC and FTC would investigate if that's the case. That said, I hope this triggers Congressional inquires into the necessity of these organizations to exist.

They're also offering 1 years free credit monitoring, which is an empty gesture, since this information is now publicly available to fraudsters forever.

The important thing is that the accounts get closed or transferred so the information the thieves obtained is no longer relevant. Doesn't do much good in terms of hiding people's identity (social security #, address, name, etc.) but that can't really be helped anyway in the 21st century.

 

[Sasqui]

They're also offering 1 years free credit monitoring, which is an empty gesture, since this information is now publicly available to fraudsters forever.

No kidding. It really is a hollow gesture. A local bank was a victim of hacking and offered the same thing... what happens after 1 year?

And, should I believe this?

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Within one year, you'll probably get your identity exposed by someone else and have different coverage because of that.

Seriously, there's no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. Welcome to the 21st century.

 

[Vayra86]

Inevitable, but that doesn't make it any less horrible.

Over here in NL we can also see leaks raining left and right. Government and business are way, way too late with proper data protection measures, because hey, it costs money and the returns on investment are questionable or hard to quantify. Tin foil hats aren't even in this discussion anymore, it's reality; no less than 10 years ago, I remember 'we' were being laughed at for saying this.

About abolishing credit... can't say I agree, nor can I agree with the statement that 'if you can't live without credit something's wrong'... At the same time, I do believe one should have as little debt as humanly possible, but some expenses just require credit, a house being one of them, or perhaps a car or a study of some sort. But its a fine line that many people don't even know of, especially in the US the stance towards credit and debt is so unhealthy, its unreal and it even echoes from the very bottom of society all the way through government and top-end incomes. But also here, the amount of people that end up in special programs to clear debt is tremendous, the growth is massive year -over-year and in my line of work, I've gotten to speak to more and more people with payment problems over the past years.

In the end both these leaks and the % of population with credit registrations are perfect examples of what's wrong with the world, and its no coincidence that you generally find both of them in the same spot.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Wooow... 700M... where the hell did i get that from???!!!!

You made the correct adjustment to allow for illegal immigration.

 

[dorsetknob]

Wooow... 700M... where the hell did i get that from???!!!!

Genuine Facebook Statistic

 

[DRDNA]

How does the obama care site have your info if you didnt sign up????

Because the Federal Government was kind enough to have it created for you, remember obanger made it mandatory.

 

[remixedcat]

What is a good credit monitoring site tho? In case of ID theft... the one my mom used was crap so...

 

[DRDNA]

What is a good credit monitoring site tho? In case of ID theft... the one my mom used was crap so...

there are three and you know them and one just had the shit hacked out of them causing a huge problem for millions of people. Which how and why this threaded got started.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

What is a good credit monitoring site tho? In case of ID theft... the one my mom used was crap so...

https://www.annualcreditreport.com

Congress forced them to make that site and make it free. It's the only one I have ever used and doesn't give them anything they don't already know. Only caveat is that you can only use it once per year.

 

[Frick]

https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/

Turns out I'm one of the compromised.

Here's what you agreed to:

AGREEMENT TO RESOLVE ALL DISPUTES BY BINDING INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION. PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE SECTION CAREFULLY BECAUSE IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS BY REQUIRING ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES (EXCEPT AS SET FORTH BELOW) AND A WAIVER OF THE ABILITY TO BRING OR PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION, CLASS ARBITRATION, OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. ARBITRATION PROVIDES A QUICK AND COST EFFECTIVE MECHANISM FOR RESOLVING DISPUTES, BUT YOU SHOULD BE AWARE THAT IT ALSO LIMITS YOUR RIGHTS TO DISCOVERY AND APPEAL.

Likely not upholdable (and I think it'll soon be removed), but still. That is one classy company.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...im-you-must-give-up-right-to-sue-to-find-out/

 

[FordGT90Concept]

That won't stand in court if people are damaged by Equifax's negligence.

And yeah, credit reporting agencies are worse than scum. They will do everything they can to try to weasel out of it.

 

[R-T-B]

How does the obama care site have your info if you didnt sign up????

They don't. It's also a state differentiated insurance market IIRC, meaning per state databases.