U.S. indicts 4 Chinese military hackers for giant Equifax breach

The U.S. Department of Justice indicted four members of the Chinese military for the 2017 Equifax breaches, which exposed the data of more than 145 million Americans. 

U.S. Attorney General William Barr made the announcement at a press conference Monday morning, calling the breach a “deliberate and sweeping intrusion into the private information of the American people.”

The indictment claims all four suspects are part of the People’s Liberation Army’s 54th Research Institute. They face nine charges related to computer fraud, economic espionage, and wire fraud.

According to the indictment, in addition to the personal information (names, birthdates, Social Security numbers) of 145 million Americans, the hackers also obtained driver’s license numbers of 10 million Americans. They also had access to other data, including credit card numbers, from another 200,000 Americans. And nearly 1 million people from the UK and Canada were also affected. 

Of course, most people probably remember the breach for the way they got screwed by the $700 million settlement Equifax reached with the Federal Trade Commission. Everyone was supposed to get about $125 per person, but it didn’t quite work out that way. 

Instead, everyone could get 10 years of free credit monitoring that probably wasn’t necessary until Chinese hackers cut through the flawed software used by Equifax and many other U.S. corporations.

It’s unlikely, however, that these four hackers will ever actually face charges in the U.S., much like the Russians charged with hacking the 2016 elections.