Equifax data breach: Elizabeth Warren calls for probe of hack, consumer data security

Roger Yu | USA TODAY

Citing Equifax’s “delayed and lackluster response,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called Friday for a more thorough government investigation of the recent data breach at the credit reporting agency and asked Equifax's competitors to provide information on their data protection measures.

Warren also introduced a bill that would prevent credit reporting agencies from profiting off of consumers' information during a reporting freeze and allow consumers to receive an additional free credit report following the Equifax data breach.

"Equifax has failed to provide the necessary information describing exactly how this happened, and exactly how your security systems failed," she wrote in a letter to Equifax.

"Equifax's initial efforts to provide customers information did nothing to clarify the situation and actually appeared to be efforts to hoodwink them into waiving important legal rights."

She also sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office to request an investigation into consumer data security.

Her letter comes shortly after the government agencies responsible for consumer protection announced their own investigations of the breach. The Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said this week that they will investigate the hacker attack on Equifax's data systems that compromised personal information on an estimated 143 million U.S. consumers.

The hackers also gained access to credit card numbers for roughly 209,000 consumers, as well as certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for about 182,000 consumers.

Beyond a detailed review of Equifax's breach, the GAO review should include a description of the current legal and regulatory structure in overseeing credit reporting agencies and a summary of the rights of consumers with regard to the agencies, she wrote in the letter.

Warren also urged the GAO to review the companies' interaction with federal regulators and determine what role the credit reporting agencies played in federal programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

In her letter to Equifax's main competitors, TransUnion and Experian, Warren demanded the companies to "provide consumers with clarity on the danger of identity theft in the aftermath of the Equifax breach, to provide the public with information about the risk of further data breaches, and to address concerns about the credit ratings industry as a whole."

Federal Trade Commission opens probe on Equifax after historic hack The Federal Trade Commission has opened a probe into Equifax’s historic data hack, where hackers stole the sensitive personal information of about 143 million people. Jose Sepulveda (@josesepulvedatv) has more.

Worried about Equifax? Freeze your credit! If you're concerned your personal information might have been exposed by the Equifax breach, you can take steps to freeze your credit.



