Hackers feared to have stolen personal data from up to 44million Brits — with concerns for BT and British Gas customers
Equifax, which holds 44million Brits’ data for BT and British Gas, admitted that information on 143million US customers had been exposed between May and July this year
HACKERS are feared to have stolen personal data from up to 44million Brits in a cyber attack on US credit rating firm Equifax.
Many victims will be unaware their information is held by the company which represents BT, Capital One and British Gas.
The Information Commissioner’s Office is investigating and urged Equifax to alert affected UK customers as soon as possible.
The firm revealed information on 143million US customers had been exposed between May and July.
Hackers are thought to have stolen 209,000 US credit card numbers plus personal details and social security numbers.
Equifax said “limited personal information” from British and Canadian customers had been compromised.
BT said: “We are aware and monitoring the situation closely.”
Hacker analyst Avivah Litan said: “On a scale of one to 10, this is a 10.
“It affects the whole credit reporting system in the US because nobody can recover it. Everyone uses the same data.”
It has also emerged that three Equifax executives sold shares worth a combined £1.3million days after the hack was discovered.
Equifax claims the trio “had no knowledge of any intrusion at the time”.
