Reuters / Brendan McDermid
Options traders are betting that Equifax's stock will drop further following last week's announcement of a security breach.
"The FTC typically does not comment on ongoing investigations. However, in light of the intense public interest and the potential impact of this matter, I can confirm that FTC staff is investigating the Equifax breach," a spokesman said in an emailed statement, according to Bloomberg and Politico.
Equifax last week reported a massive data breach, saying hackers may have accessed the personal details, including names and Social Security numbers, of more than 143 million consumers from mid-May to July. 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.
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.
Three senior executives dumped almost $2 million worth of stock days after the company learned of the breach. An emailed statement from the credit-monitoring agency said the executives "had no knowledge" of the breach beforehand.
On Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia on Wednesday asked the Federal Trade Commission to examine the recent hack of Equifax. He requested an investigation into the firm's cybersecurity practices and questioned its response to consumers who may have been affected by the breach.
Equifax's stock was down by 2% at 9:31 a.m. ET. Shares have tumbled by about 30% since the news broke last week.
