Equifax Credit Reporting Data Breached Linked to China

In 2017, a massive amount of data was hacked and accessed from Equifax, which is one of the major credit reporting agencies in the nation. Much of this data was personal information regarding Americans. This week, officials announced findings that the data breach was linked to Chinese Hacking. As the AP in the Houston Chronicle reports:

The state-backed Chinese hackers allegedly vacuumed up billions of data points on Americans that could be used to cross-reference data and obtain deep insights into individual lives. The data could be used in the recruitment of spies, and the hackers may have seeded cover identities for Chinese agents inside Equifax’s databases, said Priscilla Moriuchi, a former NSA employee now at the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

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In a devastating blow to U.S. national security, the personal data of more than 21 million current, former and prospective federal employees was stolen. Although a first hacker was detected in March 2014, a second intruder went undetected until April 2015, by which time data on security clearances, background checks and fingerprint records had been extracted. A House inquiry said the hack was likely the work of “Deep Panda,” a group linked to the Chinese military.

This data breach should cause reforms in how credit reporting agencies and other companies maintain their data and who can access it. This is especially true when it comes to companies like Equifax. As an opinion piece in the New York Times points out:

The analogy isn’t quite apt, though, because Equifax, like other data brokers, doesn’t fill its vaults with deposits from willing customers. Equifax amasses personal data on millions of Americans whether we want it to or not, creating valuable profiles that can be used to approve or deny loans or insurance claims. That data, which can help dictate the outcome of major events in our lives (where we live, our finances, even potentially our health), then becomes a target.

If you have been impacted the 2017 Equifax data breach or suspect improper access to you credit information, please give my office a call.