DETROIT – Another 80,000 Michigan residents have been added to the more than 4 million people affected in the state by the enormous Equifax data breach, the state's attorney general announced Monday.
Attorney General Bill Schuette's office said the breach has now impacted the personal information of more than 4.6 million consumers in Michigan. That's after findings revealed last week that an additional 2.5 million people across the country may have been affected by the breach. Overall, 145.5 million people were affected by the massive hack.
Equifax hired cybersecurity firm Mandiant to investigate the major breach in August -- a month before it publicly disclosed that the personal information of millions of customers might have been compromised. On Oct. 1, Equifax announced Mandiant completed its forensic investigation and revised the number of people impacted by the hack.
The new findings included only U.S. consumers, but Equifax also said personal information of 8,000 Canadian consumers was impacted, down from an initial estimate of 100,000.
According to the Attorney General's office, Equifax promised to update their website by Oct. 8, 2017, so that consumers can check if they are in the newly discovered group. If you checked your status with Equifax before Oct. 8 and were not impacted, it is important to check again to ensure that status has not changed and to take appropriate steps to protect your information if it has, officials said.
"The fall out from this breach continues to grow and my consumer protection team is diligently working to make sure Michigan residents know what to monitor as they move forward," said Schuette. "It is important for individuals to determine if they are affected and I encourage anyone who believes their personal information has been compromised to file a complaint with my office."
How to check if your information was breached
Go to Equifax’s Cybersecurity Incident & Important Consumer Information website to see if your information has been impacted.
You can also read Equifax’s FAQ for Consumers; Progress Updates for Consumers; and Notice of Data Breach to keep up on the latest announcements from Equifax.