Credit bureaus, like Equifax, gather financial information about millions of individuals, and produce credit reports based on that information. A credit report is a detailed breakdown of one's credit history, and they are important because lenders use these reports to determine loan applicants' creditworthiness. So, it's crucial to have an accurate and positive credit report. Equifax is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and operates worldwide.
Since the breach, Equifax has had to deal with a great amount of reputational damage, even after paying off its fines. Hacks like this have a huge, negative impact on a company's customer base. Customers have lost confidence in the brand and don't feel that their data is secure. It just goes to show that nothing is 100% safe, and we all need to be careful with what we put online because anything can be leaked.
The personal information of over 147 million people was leaked. Thankfully, my family was not affected.
The Equifax Data Breach Settlement website has a look-up tool where one can find out whether their data was compromised. People affected by the Equifax hack are eligible for a $125 payout, possibly more.