Equifax to pay up to $700M in 2017 data breach settlement

(NBC News) Credit bureau Equifax has agreed to pay up to $700 million to settle with the Federal Trade Commission and others over a 2017 data breach that exposed Social Security numbers and other private information of nearly 150 million Americans.

The figure covers fines and legal fees, as well as financial relief to the individual consumers who were affected by the breach.

In September of 2017, Equifax announced it had experienced a hack that affected some 147 million people – nearly half the American population.

An FTC investigation found that Equifax failed to secure the data, even after discovering vulnerability in their software.

In addition, Equifax reportedly failed to monitor the breached systems, so the hack went undetected for more than 70 days.

Read more: https://nbcnews.to/2xZ0sWP