FTC Investigates the Equifax Data Breach

The data breach that just happened to Equifax could be the biggest ever and the FTC is looking into it.

According to Bloomberg as well as Politico, the Federal Trade Commission has said it is investigating the data breach. A spokesman said in an email, “The FTC typically does not comment on ongoing investigations. However, in light of the intense public interest and the potential impact of this matter, I can confirm that FTC staff is investigating the Equifax breach.”

The huge data breach was reported earlier this month and Equifax said more than 143 million consumers from mid May of this year to July could be affected. Their personal details which includes names, social security numbers and other things could have been accessed.

Equifax also said that the credit card numbers of about 209,000 people was accessed and that certain documents for 182,000 people were obtained in the hack.

Executives of the credit-monitoring agency had said they had “no knowledge” of the breach before selling nearly $2 million of the stock days after the company learned about the hack.

It was on Wednesday this week that Senator Mark Warner of Virginia (D) had requested the FTC to investigate the data breach.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) and have not been compensated for this article.