Equifax fined £500,000 after data hack hit 15million Britons

CREDIT reference agency Equifax has been fined £500,000 over its failure to protect the personal information of 15m people in the UK.

Equifax had been warned by the American government that its systems had a ‘critical vulnerability’ but failed to act and was hacked within months by cyber attackers who stole the personal information of 146m customers worldwide.

Big companies which failed to keep customers safe would be hit hard, said the head of the Information Commissioner’s Office, which led the probe. In the summer of 2017, cyber attackers in the US stole information which included bank details, names, addresses and even passwords.

Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, said: ‘Equifax showed a serious disregard for customers and the personal information entrusted to them.

‘Multinational data companies like Equifax must understand what personal data they hold – and take robust steps to protect it.’

Measures to protect personal information were ‘inadequate and ineffective’, the investigation found.