On top of everything else, Equifax hackers got 10 million driver's licenses
It turns out, we're still not done talking about Equifax.
Sources told the Wall Street Journal that last month's breach compromised the driver's license data of around 10.9 million Americans.
The breach, which was announced Sept. 7, gave anonymous hackers access to personal information, including the social security numbers, of 145.5 million Americans. At the time, the credit reporting agency noted that some driver's licenses were accessed, but did not disclose how many.
Equifax customers provided driver's license information to verify their identities in credit-report disputes. The hackers exploited a vulnerability in the dispute portal to access the driver's license information, which can include personal details such as its owner's full name, date of birth, home address.
And it gets worse. According to WSJ, Equifax CEO Richard Smith stated in congressional hearings that a company employee knew of the vulnerability prior to the breach, but failed to notify others. The hackers had access to Equifax's systems for more than four months before the company caught wind.
The information included on a driver's license can help hackers to commit fraud, and particularly to verify fake identities and create fake IDs.
To find out how afraid you should be, you can contact Equifax to see if your personal information was compromised by the breach. Just be prepared to fork over even more personal information.
Topics Cybersecurity
Monica wrote for Mashable's Tech section with a focus on retail, internet of things, and the intersections of technology and social justice. She holds a degree in creative writing from Brown University, and has previously written for Dow Jones Media, the New York Post, Yahoo Finance, and others. In her free time, she can be found attempting to cook Asian food, buying board games, and looking for new hobbies.
