The credit report company announced that about 145.5 million of its US customers might have been affected, up from a previous estimate of 143 million. Furthermore, about 400,000 Britons and 100,000 Canadians may have also had data compromised. Nevertheless, the company lowered the estimate to only 8,000 Canadians after further investigation. Equifax holds data on more than 820 million consumers as well as information on 91 million businesses.
The company’s CEO Richard Smith had testified in Congress about the attack, after he had resigned. Mr Smith apologised ahead of the hearing for the companys failings. He said the attack made him believe consumers should have sole control over when their credit information may be accessed, according to BBC. Furthermore, the testimony from Equifaxs former chief executive and chairman also offered a chronology of the incident.
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