Canadians not getting the same support in the Equifax breach as those in the US

September 28th, 2017  |  Canadian Business

Just days after the ousting of former Equifax CEO, Richard Smith, interim CEO Paulino do Rego Barros Jr. published a letter in the Wall Street Journal and offered his "sincere and total apology to every consumer affected by our recent data breach". The breach of Equifax system lead to the exposure of over 143 million customers personal information, around 100,000 of those being Canadians.

As well as offering his apologies, Barros stated in the letter that US customers affected by the breach would be offered free credit locking for life, to help maintain the integrity of their accounts.

"Our responsibility is to provide timely, reassuring support to every affected consumer," the letter said.

However, this service is not being offered to Canadian customers who have had their information compromised, as the act of freezing one’s credit report is not yet available in Canada.

"Equifax Canada is offering complimentary credit monitoring for one year, as well as identify theft monitoring, for Canadian consumers impacted by the breach," an Equifax Canada spokesperson said in a statement to CBC News. "Equifax has engaged a leading cybersecurity firm to conduct a comprehensive forensic review to assist us with identifying potentially impacted Canadians. The investigation is ongoing. We have begun the preparation necessary to notify impacted consumers."

Canadians were supposed to be contacted by mail, but so such contact has been made yet, and many are saying the response to concerns have been underwhelming.