Hacking inquiry

EQUIFAX could face multi-million pound fines in the UK after a cyber attack hit 700,000 British customers.

The Financial Conduct Authority is looking into ‘the circumstances surrounding a cybersecurity incident that led to the loss of UK customer data’ held by the US credit monitoring company. Equifax discovered the hack in July, but only informed consumers last month after the breach saw information including credit card details, phone numbers and driving licence numbers exposed.

Cyber attacks have become an increasing problem for big firms that hold a large amount of customer data, with HSBC and TalkTalk among the targets.