The Heartland Credit Union Association, which represents Kansas and Missouri credit unions, has announced it will join the long list of industry members that are suing Equifax over its massive data breach last year.
According to a press release from the association, the Equifax breach compromised private information for 1.1 million consumers in Kansas and 2.5 million consumers in Missouri. About 1.5 million people in Missouri and 664,000 people in Kansas belong to credit unions, according to the association.
"We're fighting data breaches and cyberattack issues on multiple fronts, and this lawsuit is part of a larger effort to help protect private consumer information," Heartland Credit Union Association President/CEO Brad Douglas said. "We need stricter regulation to ensure changes to data security, so we're taking action and helping lead this charge."
The average credit union in Missouri has $108.8 million in assets, according to Heartland. The average credit union asset size is $71.1 million in Kansas.
"When these cyberattacks happen, credit unions could incur steep costs associated with fraudulent behavior, and the association hopes this lawsuit is one step forward in leading to credit unions recouping some of those costs," the association said in its announcement.
The Heartland Credit Union Association is one of more than a dozen leagues and several credit unions suing Equifax. According to court records, some of the other league plaintiffs include: The Association of Vermont Credit Unions, California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues, Carolinas Credit Union League, Illinois Credit Union League, Indiana Credit Union League, League of Southeastern Credit Unions & Affiliates, Maryland/DC Credit Union Association, Michigan Credit Union League, Minnesota Credit Union Network, Mississippi Credit Union League, Montana Credit Union League, Mountain West Credit Union Association, Nebraska Credit Union League, New York Credit Union Association, Ohio Credit Union League, Pennsylvania Credit Union League, Virginia Credit Union League and Wisconsin Credit Union League.
The Equifax breach, announced Sept. 7, 2017, was first thought to affect 143 million U.S. consumers. Compromised information primarily includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and in some cases driver's license numbers. The breach also jeopardized credit card numbers for about 209,000 people, as well as dispute documents for about 182,000 consumers. A subsequent forensic investigation announced on Oct. 2, 2017, found that an additional 2.5 million U.S. consumers were affected, bringing the total to 145.5 million people.
For the third quarter of 2017, Equifax said it recorded $87.5 million of expenses related to the data breach. It said it also expects to incur an extra $56 million to $110 million in expenses related to providing free credit monitoring and identity theft protection to U.S. consumers.
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