Consumers plan to sue Equifax over data breach

Several law firms have announced suits against the credit reporting company Equifax after a data breach exposed the vital information of about 143 million Americans. If a judge approves a class-action lawsuit, it could be one of the largest in history. Some state authorities have announced their own legal actions against Equifax, including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. Healey said Tuesday the Equifax breach “may be the most brazen failure to protect consumer data” her office has seen. Equifax, under pressure over how it handled the breach, is allowing customers to freeze their credit reports for free for the next 30 days. Consumers calling the help line Equifax set up complained of jammed phone lines and uninformed representatives, and initial information from the website was inconsistent. Many people got no response, just a notice that they could return later to register for identity protection. Equifax said it fixed many of those problems.