If you don’t know yet, you know now. Equifax was hacked and the information of a potential 143 million Americans is now in the hands of those hackers. The supposed hackers are now making their demands of Equifax. According to Mashable, who’s source link is no longer working, the hackers are asking for over 600 Bitcoin – that much Bitcoin amounts to $2.66USD million. The hackers claim that if the ransom is met, they will delete all of the data but Equifax has until September 15th to pay up. Mashable posted an excerpt from the now dead link.

We are two people trying to solve our lives and those of our families,” the site explains. “We did not expect to get as much information as we did, nor do we want to affect any citizen. But we need to monetize the information as soon as possible. Every day that passes is worth less, and the limit will be on September 15th. That day all the information except the credit cards will be published. It’s a necessary damage for companies like Equifax to learn. If up to day 15 they pay the requested amount all the information and all the backups will be deleted. Our word may seem insufficient but we do not gain anything by posting personal information if it is not absolutely necessary.

To prove that they’re legitimate, the hackers have told Equifax to request any part of the stolen data and they will show it to them. We’re not certain how concrete this report is, nor is Mashable. As we said, the link they posted is unreachable now, it could be that too many requests are being made to it or the would be hackers aren’t real. What is real is that Equifax’s security measures are most certainly in need of some serious scrutiny. A company that deals with millions of people’s personal information and then passes judgment on their credit worthiness should have top tier security protecting that data.

I know of at least one lawsuit already being filed and if that data is indeed dumped for all to see, there will be more to come. Users can go to the Equifax website to see if they were affected by this hack. If you do search to see if you’ve been affected, you may be giving up your right to sue Equifax, although the New York Attorney General has mentioned that clause is unenforceable and should be removed.

What do you think of this hack? What do you think of Equifax’s security? Let us know in the comment section below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.