NY attorney general announces investigation in Equifax breach

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) announced on Friday that his office would be launching a formal investigation into the Equifax data breach that left 143 million people vulnerable to hackers.

More than 8 million New Yorkers were affected by the hack, according to Schneiderman’s office.

“The Equifax breach has potentially exposed sensitive personal information of nearly everyone with a credit report, and my office intends to get to the bottom of how and why this massive hack occurred,” Schneiderman said in a statement.

“I encourage all New Yorkers to immediately call Equifax to see if their data was compromised and to consider additional measures to protect themselves.”

I am launching a formal investigation into the #Equifax breach. Today, I sent a letter to @Equifax seeking additional information. pic.twitter.com/qlZIs8OKnO

— Eric Schneiderman (@AGSchneiderman) September 8, 2017

Schneiderman also advised consumers to check their credit reports and consider a credit freeze to prevent new accounts being opened in their names.

Equifax announced the breach on Thursday, saying that hackers had access to the data from May to July. About 209,000 people had their credit card numbers exposed in the breach.