Equifax Hack: Merkley Expresses Alarm, Vows to Work with Colleagues to Help Protect Consumers

Friday, September 8, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement after Equifax, one of the nation’s three major credit reporting firms, announced that as many as 143 million American consumers may have had their Social Security numbers and other sensitive information stolen in a massive hack of Equifax’s computer systems:

“Credit reporting agencies have access to a huge amount of information that can easily be abused by identity thieves, and a breach of this scale is cause for a great deal of concern. The way that Equifax has handled this incident raises a number of questions, from executives that sold stock after privately learning of the hack, to offering credit monitoring and identity theft services that may be insufficient to fully remedy the harm done to consumers.

“This breach obviously has the potential to impact a huge number of consumers in Oregon and across America. While we are still learning the full scope of the situation, I am fully committed to working with my Senate colleagues to do everything I can to protect consumers and ensure that they do not pay the price for Equifax’s mistakes.”