Equifax hack also under investigation in UK by regulators Verenigd

Regulators from the United Kingdom are going to investigate the hack on the American credit rating agency Equifax. The regulators may eventually impose a fine or revoke Equifax’s license.

Both the Financial Conduct Authority and Information Commissioner’s Office have launched investigations. Because the hack also affected hundreds of thousands of British people, the regulators want to know more about the circumstances in which the hack could have taken place. Equifax says it welcomes the new studies so that “lessons can be learned” so that companies can better protect their customers from hacks in the future. Investigations have already been launched by several US and Canadian regulators.

In May 2017, a major hack on Equifax took place via a leak in Apache Struts that had been known since March. Initially, it was mainly about stolen American personal data, but the credit rating agency previously announced that a file with data from a total of 15.2 million British customers was also part of the hack. Equifax says 14.5 million British customers are involved in a possible leak where only the name and date of birth were taken. The remaining 700,000 customers mainly concern stolen telephone numbers.

During the hack, unauthorized persons gained access to the data of mainly 146 million Americans. The credit card details of several hundred thousand could be viewed. The criminals entered through a leak in Apache Struts that had been known for months. As a result of the hack, the director decided to resign from his position at the end of September. Earlier, the chief security officer and the chief information officer already left.