A key House committee plans to hold a hearing on the massive Equifax data breach that potentially affects 143 million Americans.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, announced the hearing on Friday. The panel has not yet announced a date.
"This is obviously a very serious and very troubling situation, and our committee has already begun preparations for a hearing. Large-scale security breaches are becoming all too common," Hensarling said in a statement. "Every breach leaves consumers exposed and vulnerable to identity theft, fraud and a host of other crimes, and they deserve answers."
Equifax, which provides credit monitoring and other information services, said the exposed data include names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, addresses and some driver's license numbers. More than 200,000 U.S. credit card numbers were also obtained.
Equifax discovered the breach on July 29, and the company disclosed it Thursday. The announcement set off confusion among consumers, who sought the best way to respond to the massive breach.
Bipartisan political concerns about the breach and calls for congressional hearings followed quickly.
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