Equifax Hack Exposes Peril of Credit Bureau Model: QuickTake Q&A

Equifax Inc. said criminals struck its systems in a cyberattack that’s among the most intrusive security breaches in history. The hack may have exposed personal information -- including Social Security numbers and birth dates -- for 143 million U.S. consumers, or almost half the nation’s population. Many of those individuals aren’t even aware their personal data is being collected.

Large banks and other consumer-facing companies use credit bureaus as repositories of information on current and potential clients. Financial firms typically report items including credit status, payment history and address information to the three major bureaus: Equifax, Experian Plc and TransUnion. Equifax supplements that information with data it collects from public records including bankruptcy records, court judgments and tax liens. The company also maintains a large database of employment and salary information; that information wasn’t exposed during the cyberattack.