2.5M more may be affected by hack

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Credit-report company Equifax said Monday that an additional 2.5 million Americans may have been affected by the massive security breach of its systems, bringing the total to 145.5 million people who had their personal information accessed or stolen.

Equifax said the company it hired to investigate the breach, Mandiant, has concluded its investigation and plans to release the results “promptly.” The company also said it would update its own notification for people who want to check if they were among those affected by Oct. 8.

The update comes as Equifax’s former CEO, Richard Smith, who announced his retirement last month, will testify in front of Congress starting today. He’s expected to face bipartisan anger from politicians who have expressed outrage that a company tasked with securing vast amounts of personal data was unable to keep its security software up to date.