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Yes. In September 2017, Equifax’s official Twitter account mistakenly directed some people seeking breach information to securityequifax2017.com, a lookalike site made by security researcher Nick Sweeting. Equifax’s actual breach-information site was equifaxsecurity2017.com. The mistake exposed a serious trust problem during a high-pressure breach response, but the available reports do not establish that anyone’s information was stolen through the fake site.
What was the fake Equifax website?
The fake domain was securityequifax2017.com. It closely resembled Equifax’s incident domain, equifaxsecurity2017.com, but the words “security” and “equifax” appeared in the opposite order. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee’s October 17, 2017 hearing record recounts the two domain names and the mistaken tweet. Read the Senate hearing record.
SecurityWeek reported on September 21, 2017, that Sweeting created the lookalike to demonstrate how easily people could confuse the addresses. The report said Equifax’s Twitter account replied to people with the wrong link and later removed the tweets. Read SecurityWeek’s contemporaneous report.
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What happened, and when?
- September 7, 2017: Equifax said it had launched a consumer support package and a dedicated incident website.
- September 15, 2017: Equifax published preliminary breach details and identified equifaxsecurity2017.com as its incident site. Its disclosure then estimated that about 143 million U.S. consumers were potentially affected. Read Equifax’s disclosure.
- September 20–21, 2017: Contemporaneous coverage described Equifax Twitter replies pointing users to Sweeting’s lookalike. SecurityWeek reported at least eight mistaken replies and said Equifax removed the tweets.
- July 2019: The Federal Trade Commission warned consumers about fake settlement websites and advised them to begin at the FTC’s own Equifax page.
- July 22, 2019: The FTC announced a settlement and said approximately 147 million people had been affected by the breach. Read the FTC settlement announcement.
The 143 million figure was Equifax’s preliminary 2017 estimate of U.S. consumers potentially affected; the approximately 147 million figure was the FTC’s description in its 2019 settlement announcement. They come from different sources and dates, so they should not be treated as identical counts.
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Did the fake site steal anyone’s information?
The cited reporting does not establish how many people visited the site, whether anyone entered personal information, or whether information was captured. SecurityWeek quoted Sweeting as saying his imitation form did not store submitted information. That is the researcher’s account as reported at the time, not an independently described forensic audit. The evidence supports calling this a mistaken link and a trust failure; it does not support claiming that users were defrauded or had data stolen through this particular site.
Why did this matter?
People trying to learn whether a breach had affected them needed accurate, official guidance. A company account directing users to a near-match domain undermined confidence at precisely that moment: a domain can look plausible while belonging to someone else. That is the central security lesson of the episode. Links about an incident or a claim should be checked against a known official source rather than trusted solely because they appear in a social-media reply.
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The larger breach also prompted a substantial enforcement response. The FTC’s July 22, 2019 announcement described a global settlement of at least $575 million, potentially up to $700 million, and approximately 147 million people affected. FTC Chairman Joe Simons said, “Companies that profit from personal information have an extra responsibility to protect and secure that data.” The statement addresses companies’ responsibility to protect data; it was not a direct comment on the mistaken tweets.
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How can you avoid fake Equifax settlement websites?
The FTC’s consumer alert, published in July 2019, warned about fake settlement sites and advised people to start from its official Equifax page rather than follow an unsolicited link. It also said people never have to pay to file claims for the benefits discussed in that alert, and warned about callers offering to file a claim. Read the FTC consumer alert.
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- Easy to Use: just remove the lid on the ID stamp blocker roller and open it, and then gently slide it on the place where the information needs to be covered. It is suitable for most ordinary paper with black words, and can protect your personal privacy in time
- Save Time and Energy: compared with the shredder, the personal confidential stamp has a small size, easy to carry, can be applied anytime and anywhere. Compared to the marker, it covers a larger area and can be quickly covered with a single swipe. There is no need to worry about whether you can not protect your privacy in time
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- Navigate from an official source. For settlement information, begin at the FTC’s website and follow its current Equifax guidance. Do not assume that an old link or claim deadline remains valid.
- Inspect the domain carefully. Compare the full web address with the one given by the official source; small word-order changes can create a convincing lookalike.
- Do not pay someone to file a claim. The FTC’s no-payment guidance applied to the benefits described in its 2019 alert. Check the FTC’s current page for any present-day status rather than treating that dated alert as proof that claims are still open.
- Be wary of unsolicited offers. The FTC specifically warned about callers who offer to file the referenced claim.
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