This probably didn’t get much coverage thanks to Hurricane Irma. But days ago, I reported on the Equifax breach, perhaps the worst in US history. Because they breached 143 million Americans. Also, they breached everything from credit/debit cards to drivers licences numbers. Equifax lawsuits intensify and pile on.
Already, Americans filed 30 lawsuits against Equifax. So far, nobody in our Boston computer service shop complained about an Equifax breach. I expect that number to rise in the days to come. At least 25 of those were filed in federal court. One of those accuses Equifax of securities fraud. But more lawsuits came in Monday. They think so many will come that they will combine it into one big Equifax lawsuits.
However, there are many complaints to go around. One said their year-around free credit monitoring through Trusted ID a bad move. Furthermore, one complaint said Equifax did this on purpose in order to sell security services. The lawsuit said because more companies offer free or almost free credit reports. And somehow, the breach would lead to more costly services. It’s not just customers, because even shareholders are upset. Some lawsuits say Equifax deliberately misled shareholders. They say they pumped up share prices, knowing chaos was about to hit the fan. But that backfired. On Monday alone, Equifix lost 8.2% of their worth. In fact, since the story broke last week, they lost over $3.5 billion worth of stock.
As of now, these Equifax lawsuits are mostly one word verses the other person’s word. But if some of the allegations are true, then shame on Equifax. To put scores of millions of Americans on the line is disgraceful. Especially if it’s to promote your own product, or to try to get people to upgrade. I hope this is NOT the case. Because We’re not just talking debit/credit cards here. We’re talking about very, very personal info that’s now on the line. This includes peoples’ addresses, where your children go to school, where your elderly parents live. Imagine if that gets into the wrong hands. Then imagine what some psychopath can do. This goes way beyond stealing money. Would Equifax want that on their conscious?