Experian (South Africa) Data Breach

What happened?

In August 2020, Experian South Africa suffered a data breach which exposed the personal information of tens of millions of individuals. Only 1.3M of the records contained email addresses, whilst most contained government issued identity numbers, names, addresses, occupations and employers, amongst other person information.

When did it happen?

The breach date in the public record is August 19, 2020. The record was added to the catalogue on September 1, 2020 and last updated there on September 2, 2020.

What information was reported as exposed?

• Email addresses
• Employers
• Government issued IDs
• Names
• Occupations
• Phone numbers

These are incident-level categories. The record does not prove that every category was exposed for every affected person.

Who may be affected?

This record may be relevant to people who had an account or other relationship with Experian (South Africa) around August 19, 2020. A catalogue entry does not establish that every customer was affected or that every listed data category applied to each person. Compare the record with an official notice addressed to you.

What should you do?

Choose actions that match the information involved. If you find signs that someone is using your identity, the Federal Trade Commission provides a personal recovery plan at IdentityTheft.gov.