{"id":84530,"date":"2017-09-14T11:29:19","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T15:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=84530"},"modified":"2017-09-13T20:54:08","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T00:54:08","slug":"schneiderman-launches-formal-investigation-into-equifax-breach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=84530","title":{"rendered":"Schneiderman launches formal investigation into Equifax breach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>More than\u00a08 million New Yorkers affected by Equifax data breach<\/em><\/p>\n

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued a consumer alert following the report that Equifax Inc., one of the nation\u2019s three major credit reporting agencies, experienced a massive breach affecting 143 million Americans and more than 8 million New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

As part of a formal investigation into the incident, Attorney General Schneiderman sent a letter to Equifax seeking additional information about the breach. The breach lasted from mid-May through July, when hackers accessed names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver\u2019s license numbers.<\/p>\n

Approximately 209,000 individuals had their credit card numbers stolen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Equifax breach has potentially exposed sensitive personal information of nearly everyone with a credit report, and my office intends to get to the bottom of how and why this massive hack occurred,\u201d said\u00a0Schneiderman. \u201cI encourage all New Yorkers to immediately call Equifax to\u00a0see if their data was compromised and to consider\u00a0additional measures to protect themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consumers can contact a dedicated call center at\u00a0866-447-7559<\/a>\u00a0to determine if you have been affected by the breach. The call center is open every day (including weekends) from\u00a07:00 a.m. \u2013 1:00 a.m.\u00a0Eastern time.<\/p>\n

Consumers should also consider taking these additional steps:<\/p>\n