Thursday, September 7, 2017

BREAKING Equifax Breached: 143 Million Social Security Numbers and DOBs Exposed



This is a developing story. Return to this post for updates.

UPDATE 1

Equifax says that a security breach released information of approximately 143 million customers including names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, addresses and possibly even driver’s license numbers.

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

UPDATE 2

RW note:

Dignum Memoria: The social security number is a government issued number, which the government often requires financial institutions to keep as part of its records.

If this was just a private sector problem, financial institutions would just change the number on the impacted accounts and life would go on.

I happened to have used my credit card at Target during the time its credit card processing was hacked. My bank simply canceled my old card and sent me a new one.

But with government obsessed with tracking us everywhere and all the time and anal bureaucratic thinking, they resist issuing new social security numbers and thus the problem could become a life long problem for some of us.

The government should stop requiring institutions to collect social security numbers.

UPDATE 3

A statement from the Chairman and CEO of Equifax:




UPDATE 4

To see if your personal information is potentially impacted: Click here.

5 comments:

  1. It took them six weeks to tell us? And, they offer a service for us to give our personal information to ANOTHER company who will protect us? How long before that company gets hacked?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bloomberg is reporting 3 execs sold some of their stock before this was revealed, but they allegedly didn't know about the hack.

    This is a horrific event.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Being enrolled in the USA Social Security system is not required by law. Of course not having a SSN will lead to many hassles. Basically anything financial requires a SSN.

    Banks are NOT required by law to obtain a SSN to open an account. Similarly an employer is NOT required to obtain employees SSN. Problem is the the grief the government will put banks and employers though for not obtaining SSN's. This is enough to deter most banks, employers and individuals from not being part of the SS system.

    My personal experience is that banks require a SSN. With employers it is not worth it to them to bother with you if you are not going to give a SSN. Other institutions such as insurance companies that often use SSN's have been more accommodating when I have told them I do not have a SSN.

    To diminish the hassles I have been in the habit of giving a bogus SSN. This still works in many cases but a few years ago the banks started telling me the SSN I gave them did not match to my name. This happened with two different banks within a few months. Seems there was a systems change that connected the banks and the government more efficiently at that time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are buying into government propaganda that it is "not required".

      The income tax is also "voluntary."

      Stop drinking the kool-aid.

      Delete
    2. Wenzel, SSNs are not required. My child doesn't have one. It's a hassle to be sure, but worth it. Stop drinking the Kool-aid and doing what you are told all the time.

      Delete