EXCERPT:
BARR: "I’m here to announce the indictment of Chinese military hackers, specifically four members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, for breaking into the computer systems of the credit reporting agency Equifax, and for stealing the sensitive, personal information of nearly half of all American citizens, and also Equifax’s hard-earned intellectual property. This is one of the largest data breaches in history. It came to light the summer of 2017 when Equifax announced the theft. The scale of the theft was staggering. As alleged in the indictment, the hackers obtained the names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers of nearly 150 million Americans and the driver’s licenses of approximately 10 -- of at least 10 million Americans. This theft not only caused significant financial damage to Equifax but invaded the privacy of many millions of Americans and imposed substantial costs and burdens on them as they had to take measures to protect themselves from identity theft.”