TOP NEWS: Experian Vows To Bring Hacker To Justice After Data Breach

(Alliance News) - Experian PLC's South African unit said Wednesday an investigation into the data breach continued, and confirmed that "civil and criminal procedures" against the perpetrator were being pursued.

The "fraudulent incident" exposed some personal information of as many as 24 million South Africans and 793,749 business entities.

On August 19, Experian South Africa announced that it was investigating an isolated incident involving a "fraudulent data inquiry".

An individual purporting to represent a legitimate client of Experian South Africa fraudulently requested services from Experian.

The services involved the release of consumer information which included telephone numbers and in some instances an address and employment details of individuals.

"No consumer credit or financial information was obtained by the fraudster in this incident. The fraudster also obtained bank account numbers on some business entities," Experian said.

Experian, the Dublin-based consumer credit reporting company whose clients include banks, at the time reported the breach to law enforcement and the appropriate regulatory authorities.

Ferdie Pieterse, chief executive of Experian Africa, said: "While the investigation continues, we can confirm that civil and criminal procedures are being pursued against the perpetrator as we take every step available to us to limit the impact to citizens and businesses in South Africa."

Pansy Tlakula, chair of the Information Regulator, said: "While this is a regrettable incident, we note that Experian South Africa has responded promptly to all our requests and has taken measures to protect the data of South Africans by engaging with multiple stakeholders, instituted actions to inform affected data subjects and other affected stakeholders, and put in place additional organisational measures to prevent unauthorised access from happening again."

"Experian South Africa has also informed us that having identified the suspect they are working with the authorities to bring the perpetrator to justice," Tlakula said.

Shares in Experian were up 0.1% at 2,796.00 pence on Wednesday in London.

By Artwell Dlamini; artwelldlamini@alliancenews.com

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