Approximately 100,000 Canadians affected by Equifax breach

Consumer credit reporting agency Equifax has finally released the Canadian numbers regarding the company’s recent cybersecurity breach.

According to a September 19th, 2017 media release, roughly 100,000 Canadians have been affected by a cybersecurity breach that occurred between mid-May 2017 and July 2017.

“The information that may have been breached includes name, address, social insurance number and, in limited cases, credit card numbers,” reads an excerpt from the September 19th release.

Equifax reports that hackers were able to access consumer data through a “consumer website application” that was originally meant to be used by the company’s U.S. customers.

“Through this interface, the criminal actors obtained access to files containing personal information of certain Canadian customers,” reads another excerpt.

The company reiterated that it’s continuing to work with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) during the investigation. Additionally, Equifax will be contacting the affected customers via regular post.

The company is also providing “complimentary credit monitoring and identity theft protection” for 12 months.

Equifax reported the breach on September 7th, 2017. Initially the company claimed that roughly 143 million U.S. customers had been affected by the cybersecurity attack, as well as “unauthorized access to limited personal information for certain U.K. and Canadian residents.”

MobileSyrup has reached out to Equifax for comment on the breach, and will update this story with a response.

Source: Equifax

Update 19/09/17: An OPC spokesperson has responded to MobileSyrup‘s request for comment:

“We note that Equifax has issued a news release today that states the company believes approximately 100,000 Canadians were affected and confirming that the company will provide free credit monitoring for a year.

We have posted some information about the incident on our site, including tips for Canadians concerned about the breach on our website: OPC launches investigation into Equifax breach.

We are currently investigating and don’t have further information to offer at this time. Canada’s federal private sector privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents (PIPEDA) includes confidentiality provisions.”