PROVIDENCE – R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin addressed the Equifax Inc. data breach Friday, advising Rhode Island consumers to check and watch their credit in the wake of the historic hack that exposed approximately 143 million consumer’s personal data.
“This may be one of the largest, if not the largest, data breaches that has ever occurred, and consumers are right to be concerned about the potential impact,” said Kilmartin. “We always advise consumers to utilize Equifax and the other national credit monitoring services whenever there is a data breach, which makes this breach even more troubling. Even the most hyper-vigilant consumers are now vulnerable to identity theft.”
Kilmartin identified the Equifax website that has been established to help consumers determine if their information has been potentially impacted (www.equifaxsecurity2017.com). The site also contains information on how consumers can protect their personal information.
“In addition to the steps Equifax has established to help consumers, it is more important than ever to closely monitor activity on all your financial accounts and to immediately report suspicious transactions,” the R.I Office of the Attorney General release noted.
According to a person familiar with the breach investigation, Equifax appears to have been targeted initially because the company keeps on file millions of active cards, belonging to people who pay $19.95 or more per month to have Equifax monitor their credit reports and alert them to potential fraud.
Bloomberg News contributed to this article.
