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Government officials urged consumers to put a freeze on their credit unless they had plans to apply for a loan or credit card. People later may “unfreeze” their credit to apply for loans or
credit. These officials alleged that Equifax failed to implement basic computer-security measures before the hack. Equifax broke the law before and after the breach, said Kathy Kraninger,
director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The settlement was unveiled by Kraninger and top officials from the FTC. They were joined at Monday's news conference
by Maryland's attorney general, Brian Frosh, who called the breach “one of the largest in U.S. history and perhaps the most dangerous.” Roughly half of all U.S. consumers were impacted,
he said. Hackers don't immediately take stolen, sensitive data and start stealing your identity, Frosh noted, since instead they may hold onto it for use years later. What was
“aggravating” was Equifax's failure to patch a critical vulnerability in its computer network for 76 days after problems surfaced, Frosh said. Even “more aggravating” is the fact that
most victims were not Equifax customers, per se, since they had not signed up for the firm's services. Instead the company widely collected and sold data involving tens of millions of
Americans. Equifax is a data, analytics and technology firm that is based in Atlanta and does business around the world. In a news release, the firm said the money in the settlement will
resolve class-action litigation and investigations by the CFPB, FTC, and the attorneys general in 48 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The State of New York's Department
of Financial Services also had a hand in the case. Equifax's chief executive officer, Mark Begor, said in a statement Monday that the consumer fund of up to $425 million “reinforces
our commitment to putting consumers first and safeguarding their data — and the seriousness with which we take this matter." In addition to helping consumers, Equifax must establish a
comprehensive information-security program to protect sensitive personal data and the firm's board of directors must certify its compliance, said Joe Simons, the FTC chairman. Part of
the settlement will be payments totaling $175 million to the states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The remaining part, $100 million, is to be paid to the CFPB in civil penalties.