Consumer credit reporting giant TransUnion has been struck by a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of over 4.4 million people in the US.
TransUnion is one of the three major credit reporting agencies in the country, along with Equifax and Experian.
The breach to took place on July 28 and was discovered two days later, according to documents filed with Maine‘s attorney general.
Although TransUnion said the data did not include anyone’s credit information, the hackers reportedly did gain access Social Security numbers from Americans across the country.
According to BleepingComputer, the breach was part of a larger attack that recently targeted a Google database managed through Salesforce’s cloud platform.
That attack, by a hacking group known as ShinyHunters, stole troves of business files, containing company names and customer contact details, but Google did not believe any passwords were taken during the incident.
The cybersecurity news site added that the attacks on Salesforce have also impacted well-known companies such as Farmers Insurance, Allianz Life, Workday, Pandora, Cisco, Chanel, and Qantas.
‘We recently experienced a cyber incident involving a third-party application serving our U.S. consumer support operations. The unauthorized access includes some limited personal information belonging to you,’ TransUnion wrote in a letter to its customers.
Over 4.4 million Americans had their personal data stolen in a breach targeting credit reporting company TransUnion
TransUnion is one of the three major credit reporting agencies in the US, along with Equifax and Experian, and they also operate in 30 other countries
TransUnion did not go into details about what limited information was exposed but noted that no ‘core credit information’ was stolen in the hack.
The credit bureau has collected and maintains up-to-date records on more than 200 million people in the US.
TransUnion’s credit information is used to assess a person’s creditworthiness, helping lenders, employers, and others make informed decisions about loans, employment, or other financial transactions.
