Written By Lexx Thornton
One of the three major credit bureaus fell prey to a cyberattack that exposed personal data from more than 4.4 million U.S. consumers.
TransUnion confirmed the breach, which involved a third-party application, on Aug. 28. According to the agency, the attack occurred on July 28 and was discovered two days later.
In a statement, TransUnion said it had “quickly contained the issue, which did not involve our core credit database or include credit reports.”
It’s offering affected customers two years of free access to its myTrueIdentity credit monitoring service.
The name of the application was not revealed, but Reuters reported a surge in cyberattacks that trick employees in the U.S and Europe into opening their company’s Salesforce databases. Once inside, hackers can plunder vast stores of data, infiltrate other cloud systems, and extort sensitive information from compromised companies.
Alongside Experian and Equifax, TransUnion is one of the “big three” consumer credit reporting agencies. It collects financial information on nearly every U.S. consumer with an active credit history.
The information TransUnion gathers is compiled into individual credit reports, which lenders, landlords, and other parties use to assess a person’s creditworthiness and associated risk.
An algorithm from FICO can be applied to information in your TransUnion file to determine your three-digit credit score.
TransUnion began sending letters last week to individuals affected by the breach. However, you can also check your status directly with its fraud assistance line at 800-516-4700. It operates Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.
You should also review your credit reports from TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Free weekly reports from all three agencies are available from AnnualCreditReport.com. Paid services like MyFico will give you updates on your FICO credit score and monitor your accounts for errors and evidence of fraud, while sites like WalletHub and Credit Karma let you check your VantageScore for free after enrolling.
