Oversight Dems urge Equifax to extend protections for breach victims

A group of House Democrats is urging Equifax to extend protections for those affected by its massive data breach last year, arguing that the credit bureau’s offering is inadequate.

Every Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee signed a letter to the company on Tuesday asking that it give consumers who were exposed by the breach free credit monitoring and identity theft protections for at least three years. Equifax is currently offering the free service for one year.

“Given the sensitive nature of the personal information that was stolen—and the ability of criminals to store and use that information for years to come, we believe that the millions of U.S. consumers whose personal information was compromised in the Equifax data breach should receive the most robust form of credit protection and identity theft services available,” wrote the group, led by Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the Oversight panel’s top Democrat.

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The breach gave hackers access to the personal information of more than 145 million people — nearly half the U.S. population. Social Security numbers, names and addresses were among the information stolen in the hack.

Equifax responded by offering those affected free access to its TrustedID Premier service for one year, though some critics warned that victims would be at risk of identity theft long after the offer expired.