
By now you sure are aware of the massive data breach Equifax suffered in 2017. Since word broke about this incident, some numbers have been estimated regarding the scale of those affected. We’ve never been given the full report, until now. In a filing detail to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), Equifax released the entirety of the numbers regarding their data breach. The full impact of the Equifax data breach is astounding, as more than half of the American population had some their sensitive information stolen.
What makes the Equifax breach so terrifying is due to the types of information that was stolen. Names, Social Security numbers, addresses and driver’s license numbers are just a few of the things that were widely stolen during the breach.
Name | 146.6 Million |
Birthdate | 146.6 Million |
Social Security # | 146.5 Million |
Address | 99 Million |
Gender | 27.3 Million |
Phone # | 20.3 Million |
Driver’s License # | 17.6 Million |
E-mail Address | 1.8 Million |
Credit Card Information | 209,000 |
Tax ID | 97,500 |
As you can see, this is a huge amount of highly confidential information that was compromised. This is information that can be used by criminals which can damage your good standing.
Not only information was stolen, it also involved images which were uploaded to Equifax’s website.
Driver’s License | 38,000 |
Social Security/Tax Payer ID | 12,000 |
Passport | 3,200 |
Miscellaneous | 3,000 |
These images can be used by criminals to escape the country and create synthetic identities among other nefarious activities.
The full impact of the Equifax data breach is yet to be seen. Odds are that your information has been obtained by criminals, so you must protect yourself. Also, use this as an opportunity to become more familiar with identity theft and how to protect your information.