Equifax suffered hack earlier than disclosed

Washington

EQUIFAX Inc learned about a major breach of its computer systems in March - almost five months before the date that it has publicly disclosed, according to three people familiar with the situation.

In a statement, the company said that the March breach was not related to the hack that exposed the personal and financial data on 143 million US consumers, but one of the sources said that the breaches involve the same intruders. Either way, the revelation that the 118-year-old credit reporting agency suffered two major incidents in the span of a few months adds to a mounting crisis at the company, which is the subject of multiple investigations. It announced the retirement of two of its top security executives last Friday.