On Sept. 7, 2017, the credit reporting agency Equifax reported a data breach affecting approximately 143 million U.S. consumers. Among the personally identifiable information (PII) that was compromised was name, date of birth, address, and Social Security number. For some affected individuals, driver’s license number and credit card number were also compromised.
This is not the first time that a credit reporting agency has been breached, nor is it the first time that Equifax has reported a breach, with its payroll subsidiary TALX experiencing a breach concerning its online portal earlier this year. What is different with the current breach is its size and the nature of information compromised, as well as the implications of the breach in light of the increasingly complex web of cybersecurity regulations governing businesses and other organizations nationwide.
