Hacking costs take toll on Equifax’s profit

new york — Equifax reported lower quarterly profit, and quarterly revenue missed estimates, as the credit bureau warned that its massive data breach had prompted some customers to hold back business.

The breach, which compromised sensitive data of 145.5 million people, has harmed the company’s reputation and prompted investigations in every U.S. state, a federal criminal probe and hundreds of lawsuits.

Equifax said it was not possible to estimate how much it would cost the company to respond to the probes and litigation.

The Atlanta-based company said it recorded $87.5 million in expenses related to the hack during the quarter, including legal fees, investigation of the breach, and free credit monitoring for US consumers whose data was exposed in the breach.

Equifax estimated a range of additional costs between $56 million and $110 million to continue

[equifax] need[s] to be able to nail those pieces and have a clear explanation of what happened and how they solved it Eric Johnson, Dean at Vanderbilt University

providing the free services. The company warned there could be further attacks. “We cannot assure that all potential causes of the incident have been identified and remediated and will not occur again,” it said in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Eric Johnson, dean of Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, said that uncertainty could cost Equifax future business.

“They need to be able to nail those pieces and have a clear explanation of what happened and how they solved it,” said Johnson. “I think they can get there, but they aren’t there now.” —