By Andrew Longstreth
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANANPOLIS—The Indiana attorney general’s office has sued one of the nation’s largest credit reporting bureaus over a 2017 security breach that compromised the personal information of nearly four million Hoosiers.

The lawsuit, announced Monday by Attorney General Curtis Hill, accuses Equifax of exposing sensitive personal data, including names, Social Security numbers and in some cases driver’s license numbers. In all, nearly 148 million Americans had their information compromised between May 13 and July 30, 2017.

“Data breaches such as this one cause real harm to real people,” said Hill.  “We know the people of Indiana trust us to work hard every day to ensure their safety and security.”

An investigation of the data breach by the U.S. House of Representatives determined that it was “entirely preventable,” putting the blame on the company’s aggressive growth strategy that expanded data security risks.

The investigation also found that Equifax had acquired multiple companies, IT systems, and data that led to increased difficulty in maintaining their systems.

One of the company’s biggest failures is due to its failure to meet industry standards related to information security. No entity that has met all standard has yet to be breached, while Equifax has still not been certified.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in Marion Superior Court, seeks civil penalties, consumer restitution, and costs and injunctive relief. The states of Massachusetts and West Virginia have also sued Equifax.

FOOTNOTE: Andrew Longstreth is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.