Investing.com - Equifax Inc (NYSE:EFX) was one of the top losing stocks on Friday, with investors continuing to react to the company’s massive data breach and the fact that some Equifax executives sold stock before the data breach was made public.
Equifax announced Thursday afternoon of a massive data breach that may have impacted 143 million people. Hackers were able to gain access to Equifax’s information, including Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, and credit card numbers.
Equifax detected the breach on July 29 and hired a cybersecurity firm to determine what specific data the hackers accessed. Meanwhile, the company is facing more criticism due to the fact that three executives sold almost $2 million in company stock shortly after the cyberattack was discovered - but according to Equifax, the executives were unaware of the security breach.
While the news has sent Equifax’s shares into a tailspin, they were down 13% Friday afternoon, cybersecurity companies were climbing. Gainers included Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC), Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ:CYBR), Proofpoint Inc (NASDAQ:PFPT), and Barracuda Networks (NYSE:CUDA).