The FTC is investigating Equifax's data breach
The watchdog rarely comments on in-progress cases, but made an exception here.
It's been a long week for Equifax, sure, but that's to say nothing about the 143 million consumers affected by the massive financial data breach. In a move that should bode well for the latter while placing more scrutiny on the former, the Federal Trade Commission has officially announced that it's looking into the matter. "The FTC typically does not comment on ongoing investigations," spokesperson Peter Kaplan said in a statement to Reuters. "However, in light of the intense public interest and the potential impact of this matter, I can confirm that FT staff is investigating the Equifax data breach."
The past seven days have seen the credit rating organization fumble its response to the breach, for example. And then, it was revealed that the locking procedure for credit reports itself was incredibly flawed. Oh, and politicians have demanded more information as well. That was before last night's news that the entire breach was the result of failing to patch a hole in its server security. With the FTC involved, perhaps consumers can start to rest easy.