Equifax Inc. announced a cybersecurity incident potentially impacting approximately 143 million Americans to potential identity theft. This breach was caused by hackers gaining access to key items of data including names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth, addresses, driver's license information.  In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers, were accessed.

This breach occurred at Equifax, one of the three national credit reporting companies in the U.S. (Experian and TransUnion being the other two).

We urge every American adult to check with Equifax at 866-447-7559 or via the web at https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/ as soon as possible to see if your personal data may have been compromised in this breach.

At 143 million consumer files disclosed, this is the single largest loss of Social Security numbers in U.S. history. This represents approximately two of every three Americans with an Equifax credit history. In 2015 health insurer Anthem Inc. was hacked for 80 million social security numbers, until now the largest breach of this type. If you have not yet taken steps to find out if you are part of this massive breach please do ASAP.

If your data has been compromised, please use precautions to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft. Enroll with the Equifax Trusted ID program and consider placing a fraud alert or credit freeze on your credit report. Credit monitoring alone is not sufficient protection. Information about how to protect yourself is on the Equifax website above, or at one of the following helpful websites about the Equifax data breach, and identity theft in general.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2017/09/equifax-data-breach-what-do