Equifax Canada Gets Hacked Again

Equifax Canada, the credit reporting agency that compiles millions of records on consumers across Canada, recently suffered its second database breach in approximately one year.

The most recent security breach has given criminals access to the personal information of 605 Canadian residents — ranging from bank loan and credit card data to names, addresses, social insurance numbers and years of credit and banking history.

Equifax Canada spokeswoman Marie-Line Colangelo would not comment on details of the attack, but simply stated that "We have learned of an incident involving what appears to be the improper use of one of our customer's access codes and security passwords."

While authorities have detected no activity involving the heisted information, security experts believe that it is just a matter of time before the data is used.

Equifax Canada has established a call center to assist its customers and has put alert messages on the affected accounts reading "lost or stolen identification." Additionally, each of the 605 consumers has received a free one year subscription to a credit monitoring service.

Last March, Equifax Canada reported that criminals found a loophole in their online account system allowing them to pose as credit grantors and access the detailed credit files of some 1,400 consumers, primarily in Alberta and British Columbia. It is believed that the loophole may have not been entirely closed permitting the second breach.

Three years ago the company was targeted by criminals who stole 2,500 credit reports from mailboxes and used the information to apply for new credit cards.