Equifax Estimates 100,000 Canadians Affected by Security Breach
By Simon Hung
September 19, 2017Almost two weeks after initial reports surfaced, Equifax Canada has issued an official statement detailing the Canadian impact of the Equifax cybersecurity incident.
The credit monitoring bureau estimates that approximately 100,000 Canadians were affected by the security breach -- a small fraction compared to the 143 million American customers affected by the same incident -- and is conducting an ongoing investigation to assess any further impact. Personal information potentially exposed by the breach includes names, addresses, Social Insurance Numbers and in limited cases, credit card numbers.
Lisa Nelson, President and General Manager of Equifax Canada, has offered apologies to Canadian customers and acknowledged the frustration caused by the lack of clarity, advising all Canadian Equifax customers to remain vigilant in reviewing account statements.
The company has set up a page on their website with more details about the incident and reiterates that the issue has been contained and that Canadian systems were not affected by the security breach -- Equifax Canada systems are independent from the Equifax systems that were compromised.
Equifax Canada will be contacting all affected customers directly by mail and offering a year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection services for free. In addition, the company is working with financial institutions to contact those who may have had MasterCard or VISA numbers compromised.
There is no self-serve option on the Equifax Canada website to check if you were affected, but the company advises customers with concerns to contact them by phone at 1-866-828-5961 or by email at EquifaxCanadaInquiry@equifax.com.
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