TransUnion Says Consumer Fear From Equifax Hack Costing It Money

(Bloomberg) -- TransUnion said it has had to spend more on staffing call centers and preparing its website for the onslaught of customer inquiries after rival Equifax Inc. disclosed a massive data breach last week.

TransUnion kept its call centers open throughout the weekend and is still working to improve response times, Chief Financial Officer Todd Cello said at an investor conference in New York on Monday. Customers have been calling for advice on what to do after Equifax said Sept. 7 that hackers may have obtained personal information for about 143 million people, he said.

“It’s really the incremental aspects of it to ramp up the call center -- that’s really where we’re driving the majority of our costs,” Cello said. “It’s significant enough though, that we’re watching it closely. The priority now is to make sure we’re helping the consumer through this time, so we’re ultimately not sparing any expense.”

TransUnion conducted an internal investigation into its own cybersecurity vulnerabilities and doesn’t believe it was subjected to the same cyberattack that struck Equifax, Cello said. The two companies do use the same software, but TransUnion has made sure its software is up to date, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jenny Surane in New York at jsurane4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Peter Eichenbaum