Are You Part Of The Equifax Data Breach? How To Search Database Of Hacked Accounts, Find Lawsuits To Join

How do you find out if you were part of the Equifax breach, or what lawsuits you can join against the company?

The answer to the first question is fairly straightforward, the second, not so much. But there are answers, and a growing number of legal options for those who had their data compromised in one of the largest data breaches of all time.

The credit-rating company announced last week that it had been hacked early in 2017, leaving the personal information of close to 143 million individuals open to the hackers. As NPR reported, Equifax is now under both state and federal investigation for its handling of the breach and faces a growing number of lawsuits for those affected.

So, how do you find out if your data was compromised in the Equifax breach? The company has set up a website that matches individuals by their last name and the last six digits of their social security number, though some people noted that it was unable to return a result.

Given that the breach affected nearly half of the entire U.S. population, there is a good chance that anyone who applied for a loan or a credit card would be affected. For those whose names were included in the Equifax breach, the next step can be looking into legal action.

After dealing with the costs of settling legal claims, Equifax’s top managers may escape financial accountability https://t.co/s6mANdOeIY

— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 15, 2017

That leads many people to another question: how do you join in one of the lawsuits against Equifax? According to CNBC, there are already 23 separate class-action lawsuits against the company, but some people could be inadvertently locked out. As The Verge reported, Equifax appears to have snuck in a clause in its new security offering that would forbid people from joining one of the lawsuits.

“The page asks people to enter their name and partial Social Security number to see if they’ve been affected, then tells them to come back after a stated date to enroll in protection. But visitors quickly pointed out that Equifax’s terms of service include a consumer-unfriendly piece of legalese known as an arbitration clause, which bans parties from joining class action lawsuits. If a court finds that Equifax was negligently lax with cybersecurity, people bound by the terms might be locked out of benefits, unless they file a new suit.”

There are also a number of scams trying to ensnare consumers looking to find out whether they were part of the breach, leading experts to warn people away from third-party sites that may be offering to check if someone was included.

Government warns of phishing scams after massive Equifax data breach https://t.co/pSNbKSwJ1S pic.twitter.com/AZQseeUUUc

— The Hill (@thehill) September 14, 2017

There is still some dispute among legal experts whether the clause would keep people from joining a lawsuit against Equifax, and the company denies that the clause would block people from joining, but there are other options to pursue legal action. For those who want to try suing Equifax on their own, there is now a chatbot that helps consumers sue the company in small claims court, where lawyers are generally not allowed. Consumers can sue Equifax for up to $25,000 depending on where they live.

[Featured Image by mihailomilovanovic/iStock]