Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday the Equifax situation was a "very serious data breach."
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YELLEN: Equifax is a 'very serious data breach' (EFX)
"This points to the importance of strong cybersecurity controls and attention to cybersecurity risks."
"We would really urge consumers now to be very careful in monitoring their credit reports and financial situation," she said at the press conference following the conclusion of the FOMC's two-day meeting.
"More generally, it points to the importance of strong cybersecurity controls and attention to cybersecurity risks, which we do see as one of the most significant risks to the financial sector," she said. "We're very focused in our banking supervision in making sure that banks have appropriate controls in place. The Equifax breach highlights the importance of that."
Equifax, which said it learned of the breach in late July, said credit card numbers for about 209,000 people and certain documents for another 182,000 were also accessed.
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The disclosure was swiftly met with criticism because of the delay in alerting the public to the hack, as well as problems with the website Equifax set up for people to check whether their details were at risk.
Equifax officials are also reportedly being investigated by the US Justice Department after selling stock before the company revealed a data breach that exposed the personal information of millions of Americans.
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