Nearly half of the US population may be impacted after a cybersecurity breach at credit reporting agency Equifax.
The company said information obtained in the breach includes the names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses and some driver's license numbers of potentially 143 million Americans.
Equifax said it discovered the breach back on July 29 and unauthorized access started mid-May.
In addition to that breach, credit card numbers for about 209,000 consumers "and certain dispute documents, which included personal identifying information, for approximately 182,000 consumers" were accessed during the incident.
The company released the extent of the damage in a statement:
We identified a cybersecurity incident potentially impacting approximately 143 million U.S. consumers. Criminals exploited a U.S. website application vulnerability to gain access to certain files. We discovered the unauthorized access and acted immediately to stop the intrusion.
Certain UK and Canadian residents may be affected as well, according to Equifax.
According to Equifax, investigators have found no evidence of "unauthorized activity on Equifax’s core consumer or commercial credit reporting databases."
Equifax said the company is offering free identity theft protection and credit file monitoring to all U.S. consumers.
Check here if you are one of the 143 million people possibly affected.
Get more information about the incident from Equifax here.
