622K From NH May Be Impacted By Equifax Hacker Breach

CONCORD, NH — The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office is warning Granite Staters that they may have been impacted by the recently Equifax cybersecurity hacking incident announced this week. Out of the more than 143 million consumers who had “sensitive information” that was compromised, more than 622,550 residents in New Hampshire may have been harmed, according to James T. Boffetti, the Senior Assistant Attorney General Chief, Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau. Equifax’s computerized data files were compromised between mid-May and July of this year, he noted.

The information accessed through this breach included names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Concord NH Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

“In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 consumers, were accessed,” Boffetti stated in a press release.

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Equifax has established a dedicated website, equifaxsecurity2017.com to check and see if your personal information was exposed or compromised. When logging into the website, click the “potential impact” tab, enter your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number from a secure computer on an encrypted network connection.

“The site will tell you if you’ve been affected by this breach,” Boffetti said.

Equifax is also offering consumers who may have been impacted a free year of credit monitoring as well as other services. The site will give you a date to come back to the site and enroll. There are also frequently asked questions on the site, too.

Equifax has established a dedicated call center and can be reached at 866-447-7559. The call center is open every day (including weekends) from 7 to 1 a.m. eastern time.

The Attorney General’s Office will be looking further into the facts and circumstances of this security breach.

All security breach notices required to be filed with the Attorney General are available at the DOJ website: doj.nh.gov/consumer/security-breaches/index.htm.

The Attorney General has a consumer information line – 888-468-4454. Consumers with questions about protecting their identity and other consumer protection questions are encouraged to call.