MSE News: Massive Equifax data breach - what you need to know

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  • RG2015
    RG2015 Posts: 5,904 Forumite
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    badmemory wrote: »
    tenchy started a thread on this on the 8th sorry don't know how to post link!
    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5707901
  • boo_star
    boo_star Posts: 3,202 Forumite
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    edited 13 September 2017 at 10:30PM
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    Jezzamk wrote: »
    It is disgusting that Equifax is letting US citizens check if their data has been hacked but not those in the UK.

    Although I have never used Equifax my data is probably on their systems as data is sourced from all sorts of places.

    I think that they should have their UK licence suspended until we are given the same access as US citizens.

    Due to the nature of the business and the time it has taken them to discover and reveal the data loss I hope that they are given a record fine and forced to compensate all victims.

    Although for those US citizens the site they set up to check if you were affected also required them to sign an agreement that you couldn't sue Equifax for their negligence, you had to do it via arbitration.

    Thankfully this was pointed out and they backed down but it never ceases to amaze me how disgustingly these companies can behave.
  • Doc_N
    Doc_N Posts: 8,270 Forumite
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    Equifax and the UK - What's Going On (Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC Technology correspondent)

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41257580
  • Sledgehead
    Sledgehead Posts: 131 Forumite
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    Latest.

    Good news is we've taken 3 whole zeros off the impact:
    Equifax hack puts data of 400,000 UK customers at risk


    .. a file containing UK consumer information “may potentially have been accessed”.

    The data includes names, dates of birth, email addresses and telephone numbers, but does not contain postal addresses, passwords or financial information.
  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 7,793 Forumite
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    But can we actually trust them? A company that has management that uses the time between finding out & letting anyone know to sell their own shares (even if they have now gone) is not one I personally would trust. They can't be the only ones that knew.

    Also a company that is so incompetent that it employs senior people who use username & password "admiin" is definitely not one we should trust.
  • Sledgehead
    Sledgehead Posts: 131 Forumite
    edited 16 September 2017 at 4:08PM
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    Oh, for sure we can't trust them (you shouldn't trust anyone). But the fact that they claim only non-secret data loss means there is pretty much nothing one needs to do (legally) to protect oneself in this regard.
  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 7,793 Forumite
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    Sorry I didn't explain myself very well. When I mentioned trust, I didn't mean trust in general terms. I meant can we trust them to have told the truth now. They have proved that they will lie & that they will try to cheat by getting people to pay extra to protect themselves from the results of their own flaws.

    We have absolutely no grounds for trusting them to tell the truth or to protect our information or indeed to trust them not to try to charge us extra to protect the very data THEY lost.

    The system in this country does not seem to have anything like enough teeth to protect us, so where do we go from here.
  • Sledgehead
    Sledgehead Posts: 131 Forumite
    edited 16 September 2017 at 4:21PM
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    badmemory wrote: »
    Sorry ....I didn't mean trust in general terms. I meant can we trust them to have told the truth now.

    That's why I said there was nothing you were now legally obliged to do. They have told us the nature of the data lost. None of it can be classed as secret. Moreover none of it can be altered. There is therefore nothing we can or should do to 'rescue' the situation. If we are the subject of ID fraud as a result, a judge or jury is unlikely to conclude we could have avoided such a fate, based on this announcement.

    If they have lied and the breach is worse, no judge or jury will blame us for taking Equifax at their word.

    Of course, this may well be of little comfort to some. But what can we do when the world is beguiled by frictionless payments and contactless skinny macchiatos?
  • TrustyOven
    TrustyOven Posts: 746 Forumite
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    From the article:
    Equifax says it will be proactively writing to all affected consumers – but letters haven't gone out yet, and Equifax couldn't give us an exact deadline for when they'll be sent.

    So if I was a customer of Equifax (statutory report) but have since moved house, how will they know where to send these letters?
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  • gillybean129
    gillybean129 Posts: 165 Forumite
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    So.....had my letter today
    I called but am not taking the advice as they need more personal data to set up their protective registration.
    Is there anything I should be doing here? Feeling vulnerable.
    Where is Martin Lewis when you need him!
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