FILE PHOTO: U.S. Attorney General William Barr arrives for U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. February 4, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis/POOL
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has charged four Chinese military hackers in the 2017 breach of the Equifax credit reporting agency that affected nearly 150 million American citizens, Attorney General William Barr said Monday.
“This was one of the largest data breaches in history,” Barr said of the theft. The indictment charges four members of the Chinese Liberation Army, he said.
Roughly 147 million people had information, including Social Security numbers and driver’s license data, compromised by the breach.
The hackers spent weeks in the Equifax system, breaking into computer networks, stealing company secrets and personal data, Barr said.
They routed traffic through approximately 34 servers located in nearly 20 countries to obfuscate their true location.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Lisa Lambert and Alistair Bell
Source : Denver Post
