Equifax reveals vast scale of 2017 consumer data breach

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Hackers stole more than 145 million Americans’ Social Security numbers and other identifying information during a massive breach last year, consumer credit agency Equifax said.

While the hack of consumer information has been public information for some time, resulting in Congress summoning former CEO Richard Smith and blistering him with criticism last year, a new financial filing helps outline the scale of the attack.

According to a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing, roughly 145.5 million customers’ Social Security numbers were compromised. Hackers purloined the names and dated of birth of roughly 146.6 million people.

Beyond those crucial identifiers, hackers obtained some 20.3 million phone numbers, roughly 17.6 million driver’s license numbers and about 1.8 million email addresses, Equifax said.

And in a new detail, Equifax said thousands of images of sensitive government-issued documents uploaded by affected customers could have been accessed by hackers. That included images of 38,000 driver’s licenses and of about 3,200 passports.

The company said it was releasing the data to supplement its responses to congressional investigators, who have been demanding information to help understand the extent of the hack.

“Equifax is committed to working with Congress and providing accurate information about the cybersecurity incident reported on September 7, 2017”, the company said in its filing.

The cyberattack did not penetrate databases containing information on employment, income and commercial credit, the company said.