Equifax to pay up to $700m over data breach

The US credit monitoring agency Equifax has agreed to pay up to $700 million in a settlement stemming from a data breach that affected nearly 150 million customers, regulators said yesterday.

The company will pay at least $525 million as part of this agreement with parties including the Federal Trade Commission and 50 US states and territories over the massive theft of data in 2017, the FTC said.

The company gathers data on consumers to help lenders determine borrowers’ creditworthiness.

Equifax disclosed in 2017 that hackers had stolen the personal details, including names, dates of birth and social security numbers, of nearly half the US.

It had been alerted in March of that year to a critical vulnerability in a database that handles questions from consumers about their personal credit data, but failed to patch its network, the FTC says.

 

Equifax to pay up to $700m over data breach

The US credit monitoring agency Equifax has agreed to pay up to $700 million in a settlement stemming from a data breach that affected nearly 150 million customers, regulators said yesterday. The company will pay at least $525 million as part of this agreement with parties including the Federal Trade Commission and 50 US states and territories over the massive theft of data in 2017, the FTC said. The company gathers data on consumers to help lenders determine borrowers creditworthiness. Equifax disclosed in 2017 that hackers had stolen the personal details, including names, dates of birth and social security numbers, of nearly half the US. It had been alerted in March of that year to a critical vulnerability in a database that handles questions from consumers about their personal credit data, but failed to patch its network, the FTC says.