On September 7, 2017, Equifax announced that it had suffered a data breach lasting from mid-May through the end of July. As a result of that breach, personally identifiable information (PII)—including names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers—for 143 million consumers was exposed. Credit card information for about 200,000 consumers may also have been exposed, along with account history information that often provides the basis for Knowledge-based Answers (KBA) authentication.