Equifax Was Hacked Months Before Previously Disclosed: Report
It’s way worse than we thought.
Equifax learned about a massive breach of its data systems in March, which was perpetrated by the same hackers responsible for the July hack, according to a new report by Bloomberg.
The new revelations mean that the credit reporting agency knew of the vulnerability of its systems nearly five months before it disclosed to the public.
Three Equifax executives sold a combined $1.8 million in stock options after the July hack but before the breach was made public.
Equifax has said that the executives were not aware of the hack before selling the shares, however, the new Bloomberg report raises questions of stock dumping all over again.
As the report notes, “If it’s shown that those executives did so with the knowledge that either or both breaches could damage the company, they could be vulnerable to charges of insider trading. The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the stock sales, according to people familiar with the probe.”
In a statement, Equifax said the March intrusion was unrelated to the July hack that exposed personal identifying information of up to 143 million Americans.
Read the full Bloomberg report here.
[image via screenshot]
