A massive data breach that compromised the personal data of 143 million Equifax users last year also impacted an additional 2.4 million users, the credit reporting firm revealed in a statement Thursday morning.
The newly found affected users did not have their SSNs compromised, Equifax says.
Ian Knighton/CNETThe findings come as the company continues to sift through the damage with investigators to fully understand the scope of a catastrophic hack that lasted months and compromised the personal data of nearly half of the US population.
Investigators say that the attack was focused primarily on acquiring social security numbers (SSN) — the additional 2.4 million users were only recently found, Equifax says, because their SSNs were not stolen. Equifax says that all affected users will be notified, and emphasizes that these findings are not the result of any new hacks.
“This is not about newly discovered stolen data,” said Paulino do Rego Barros, Jr., Interim Chief Executive Officer at Equifax. “It’s about sifting through the previously identified stolen data, analyzing other information in our databases that was not taken by the attackers, and making connections that enabled us to identify additional individuals.”
This is a developing story, and will be updated shortly.
