Exposed: Equifax

Equifax is one of the three major credit bureaus and maintains detailed financial profiles on over 800 million individuals and 91 million businesses worldwide. The company's data determines whether people can get mortgages, car loans, credit cards, apartments, and even jobs. In 2017, Equifax suffered one of the most catastrophic data breaches in history, exposing the Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and credit card numbers of 147 million Americans, roughly half the US adult population. The breach occurred because Equifax failed to patch a known vulnerability for over two months despite being alerted. Senior executives sold millions of dollars in stock before the breach was publicly disclosed. Despite the breach, Equifax continues to operate as a critical infrastructure monopoly because consumers cannot opt out of having a credit file. The credit bureau system gives three private companies, none of which consumers choose to do business with, the power to determine financial outcomes for nearly every American adult. Equifax also operates Workforce Solutions, which maintains salary and employment verification data on hundreds of millions of workers.