Credit agency Equifax announced late Thursday that approximately 143 million Americans had their personal data stolen in a massive hack between May and July of this year. The hackers gained access to names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and in some cases – driver’s license numbers.
Via ZeroHedge:
The company, which in delightful irony offers credit-monitoring and identity-theft protection products to “guard consumers’ personal information”, said that it had learned of the incident on July 29, 2017, at which point it reported the intrusion to law enforcement and contracted a cybersecurity firm to conduct a forensic review: based on the company’s investigation, the unauthorized access occurred from mid-May through July 2017. Oddly enough, it took shareholders and over a third of America, more than a month longer to learn that all their personal data may have been compromised.
As if 143 million leaked social security numbers wasn’t enough, Equifax said that criminals also accessed 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. But wait, there’s more: the company also identified unauthorized access to limited personal information for certain UK and Canadian residents.
The best part?
Equifax decided to hold off on announcing the hacking news until after three executives sold nearly $1.8 million in shares days after the breach was discovered. (Bloomberg)
The credit-reporting service said late Thursday in a statement that it discovered the intrusion on July 29. Regulatory filings show that three days later, Chief Financial Officer John Gamble sold shares worth $946,374 and Joseph Loughran, president of U.S. information solutions, exercised options to dispose of stock worth $584,099. Rodolfo Ploder, president of workforce solutions, sold $250,458 of stock on Aug. 2. None of the filings lists the transactions as being part of 10b5-1 pre-scheduled trading plans.
“This is clearly a disappointing event for our company, and one that strikes at the heart of who we are and what we do,” Equifax Chief Executive Richard Smith said in prepared remarks. “I apologize to consumers and our business customers for the concern and frustration this causes.”
Equifax ($EFX) cascaded lower as much as 19% after hours
I wonder how many H1B’s and outsourcing vendors working at Equifax brought us this disaster?
You get the security that you pay for in IT.
WTF those bastards who sold their stock should be investigated, and I wrong?
…and Putin will be blamed in 3, 2, 1….
Those fuckers selling their shares with material non-public information should be charged with insider trading.
Not an expert here but looks open and shut to me.
Equifax claims the employees didn’t know… mmm hmm.
Ignorance has always been an acceptable accuse for C-suit crimes.
Gamble sold $1M in July, but more than $8M in May – before Equifax was aware of the hack (and while it was still ongoing), so it’s possible that he didn’t know and was just selling stock to pay for a cocaine habit or something.
small plebe,
When the SS#s, credit card numbers, and personal information (sexual orientation, gambling addiction, hidden affairs, etc.) of people with Top Secret Clearance was stolen form the OPM, I think that we definitely did NOT get the security that we paid for (that information should have been offline anyway).
Psst…sell some shares.
Why?
You don’t want to know. And you didn’t hear this from me.
All this info should be kept encrypted and an seperate servers. And they sell cybersecurity? LMAO. Wit until hacks get info like your Mom’s maiden name, the name of your first dog and all those other “secret questions”. Then you are teuly fucked until you get chip implants to prove your ID.