Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that his office served an investigative subpoena – also known as a Civil Investigative Demand – on Equifax, one of the nation’s three major credit reporting agencies. Equifax reported a massive data breach affecting 145.5 million Americans, including 12.2 million Texans.
“My office seeks documents and other information from Equifax that will allow us to thoroughly examine all the facts and circumstances surrounding the massive data breach,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Our primary responsibility is to protect Texas consumers, who, through no fault of their own, had their personal and financial information compromised and are now vulnerable to identity theft.”
The Equifax breach lasted from mid-May through July of this year when hackers accessed names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, driver’s license numbers. Around 209,000 individuals nationwide had their credit card numbers stolen. Equifax didn’t reveal the breach until September.
On September 12, Attorney General Paxton issued a consumer alert with information and tips for Texans who may have been affected by the breach. Today, he issued a second consumer alert with new additional information, including steps senior citizens can take to help protect their Social Security numbers: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/equifax
Texans who believe they are victims of the Equifax data breach may file a complaint online with the attorney general’s office at https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/cpd/file-a-consumer-complaint. For general information on how to protect your credit and personal information, visit the Fighting Identity Theft page of the attorney general’s website at https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/identitytheft.