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Equifax's data breach by the numbers: The full breakdown

The credit-monitoring giant reveals exactly how much information was exposed in a massive data breach in 2017 that affected more than half of Americans.

Alfred Ng Senior Reporter / CNET News
Alfred Ng was a senior reporter for CNET News. He was raised in Brooklyn and previously worked on the New York Daily News's social media and breaking news teams.
Alfred Ng
2 min read
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Equifax releases details on last year's breach.

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Equifax is offering a closer look at its massive data breach, which revealed sensitive information on more than half the American population last year.

The company released the details Monday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, following demands from US senators.

The credit-monitoring company, which gathers personal information on people without being required to notify them, has provided some details in the past about the breach, including that 146.6 million Americans were affected and that their Social Security numbers, names, birthdates and addresses were stolen.

Here is the breakdown from Equifax on how many people were affected by category:

Name

146.6 million

Birthdate

146.6 million

Social Security Number

145.5 million

Address

99 million

Gender

27.3 million

Phone Number

20.3 million

Driver's License Number

17.6 million

Email Address

1.8 million

Credit Card information

209,000

Tax ID

97,500

Driver's License State

27,000


Hackers also stole thousands of photos uploaded to Equifax's servers that came from passports and driver's licenses. Up to 182,000 people had uploaded images to Equifax's server, the company said. 

Here's the breakdown of images stolen:

Driver's License

38,000

Social Security or Taxpayer ID card

12,000

Passport

3,200

Other

3,000


These numbers only detail US residents affected by the breach, even though Equifax noted that some people in the United Kingdom and Canada were also affected.

"Through the company's analysis, Equifax believes it has satisfied applicable requirements to notify consumers and regulators," the company said in its SEC filing.

An Equifax spokeswoman responded to a request for comment by referring back to a statement from the company. In the statement, Equifax noted that it shared this same information with members of Congress on Friday.

While Equifax's data breach isn't the largest in history -- that record belongs to Yahoo, which reported that up to 3 billion accounts were compromised -- Equifax's hack has much more potential for damage considering the types of data stolen.

First published, May 8 at 6:50 a.m. PT.
Update, 7:46 a.m. PT: Added response from Equifax spokeswoman.

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