Equifax warehouses the most intimate details of Americans’ financial lives, from the credit cards in their wallets to the size of their medical bills.

But the company doesn’t face the constant monitoring and auditing that help strengthen banks’ systems and data protections. Despite the wealth of sensitive information in its databases, Equifax, in essence, falls through the regulatory cracks.

The dangers of such lax oversight became apparent on Thursday when Equifax disclosed that hackers had compromised the personal and confidential information, including Social Security numbers, of nearly half of the American population.

Equifax is now scrambling to contain the legal and financial fallout.

New York’s attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, has opened an investigation into the data breach, while two potential class-action suits have been filed. Shares of the company were down nearly 14 percent on Friday.