Equifax identifies 2.4 mln more people impacted in 2017 breach

NEW YORK, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Equifax said on Thursday that approximately 2.4 million more U.S. consumers were impacted in the company's massive data breach last year.

However, the newly identified consumers had much less personal information stolen, according to a statement released by the company. The consumers only had their names and partial driver's license number taken.

The company said the stolen information was partial because, in the vast majority of cases, it did not include consumers' home addresses, or their respective driver's license states, dates of issuance, or expiration dates.

The news came as a result of ongoing analysis of last year's cybersecurity incident.

Equifax, one of the nation's three major credit reporting agencies, announced on Sept. 7 that a cybersecurity incident could potentially impact approximately 143 million U.S. consumers.

Equifax said at the time that the criminals managed to gain access to certain files, including consumers' names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver's license numbers.

The unauthorized access, which was discovered on July 29, occurred from mid-May through July 2017, according to Equifax.

The company added that credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers were obtained.

Equifax said it will send direct mail notices to consumers whose credit card numbers or dispute documents with personal identifying information were impacted, and that it is in the process of contacting U.S. state and federal regulators. Enditem