The People vs. Equifax

As the aftermath of Equifax's data breach is in full effect, the credit reporting company is quickly facing investigations.

ClassAction.com has already filed a lawsuit on behalf of the estimated 143 million consumer records affected by the Equifax data breach.

Attorney John Yanchunis of ClassAction.com and Morgan & Morgan filed the complaint, which noted that lead plaintiffs Jamie McGonnigal and Brian Spector individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated, bring this class action case against Equifax for its, “gargantuan failures to secure and safeguard consumers’ personally identifiable information.”

Equifax announced it had discovered the cyber security incident (data breach), yet allegedly failed to provide timely, accurate, and adequate notice to consumers until more than a month later, according to the complaint.

Although Equifax has acknowledged that it discovered the breach on July 29, 2017, the lawsuit accuses three Equifax managers of selling their stock in Equifax prior to the data breach announcement.

"Equifax has acknowledged that it discovered the breach on July 29th. What it hasn't explained is why it waited so long to make an announcement that the breach had occurred," Yunchunis said. “The profiteering before the company’s announcement is astounding.”

According to the complaint, Plaintiffs seek, “statutory damages under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA") and state consumer protection statutes, reimbursement of out-of-pocket losses and other compensatory damages, credit monitoring services beyond Equifax's current two-year offer, and an order requiring Equifax to improve their data security measures.”

Yanchunis has served as the lead counsel for a number of data breach cases, and according to ClassAction.com, he finds Equifax’s situation shocking.

"Equifax contains one of the largest databases of consumer information and they should have been better prepared for any attempt to penetrate its systems," Yanchunis said.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also looking into the data breach and Equifax’s response, Bloomberg reported. While New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced via Twitter that he has launched an investigation as well.

https://twitter.com/AGSchneiderman/status/906197644841766912