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 Senator Elizabeth Warren, Wall Street’s most relentless critic in Congress, wasn’t going to let a good scandal involving a financial company go to waste. 
 
 The Massachusetts Democrat is setting her sights on Equifax Inc., an institution that’s quickly become one of the U.S.’s most tainted brands after it disclosed a massive cyberbreach. The information stolen by hackers may have affected 143 million Americans and included data that is considered the keys to the kingdom in committing identity theft: Social Security numbers, drivers license information and birth dates. 
 
 Warren will introduce legislation Friday aimed at cracking down on Equifax and giving consumers more control over the data credit companies collect, she said in a statement. 
 
 The bill, also sponsored by Brian Schatz from Hawaii, would require Equifax and its competitors to freeze consumers’ credit reports free of charge, and restrict their ability to profit from data during the freeze. Consumers would be able to access their credit reports for free, according to the bill. 
 
 Warren also sent letters to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission demanding more information about how the regulators are investigating the breach. In addition, Warren wrote to the the three main credit reporting companies -- Equifax, TransUnion and Experian Plc -- seeking answers on how the industry is responding. 
 
 Criticism of Equifax is mounting. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that the company “stunningly and epically” failed to protect people’s sensitive information. In a speech on the Senate floor, he called the data breach “one of the most egregious examples of corporate malfeasance since Enron.” 
 
 The senators’ frustration adds pressure on an industry that plays a big role in the U.S. economy. Banks rely on the credit reports issued by Equifax, TransUnion and Experian to issue consumers loans. 
 
 The good news for Equifax: With Republicans in control of Congress, Warren’s bill may not go anywhere. 

 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Friday she has begun an investigation into Equifax’s (EFX.N) massive data breach, and along with 11 other Democratic senators, introduced a bill to allow consumers to freeze their credit for free. 
 
 Equifax came under increased pressure from lawmakers and U.S. states on Friday, while Canada said that it, too, was opening an investigation into a data breach that exposed sensitive information of some 143 million people. 
 
 Warren, who has built a reputation as a fierce consumer champion, also signaled in a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the agency she helped create in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, that it may require extra powers to ensure closer federal oversight of credit reporting agencies. 
 
 Warren also wrote letters to Equifax and rival credit monitoring agencies TransUnion (TRU.N) and Experian (EXPN.L), federal regulators and the Government Accountability Office to see if new federal legislation was needed to protect consumers. 
 
 Warren said the proposed bill would stop companies like Equifax from charging consumers to freeze their credit files. A credit freeze restricts access to an individual’s credit report, which prevents thieves from applying for credit using another person’s information. 
 
 Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen and more than 30 others in a state group investigating the breach said that while Equifax has agreed to give free credit monitoring to hack victims, they asked Equifax to stop collecting any money to monitor or freeze credit. 
 
 “Selling a fee-based product that competes with Equifax’s own free offer of credit monitoring services to victims of Equifax’s own data breach is unfair,” Jepsen said. 
 
 Related Coverage Connecticut attorney general, others ask Equifax to stop collecting fees 
 
 Also on Friday, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate subcommittee on Social Security urged Social Security Administration to consider nullifying its contract with Equifax and consider making the company ineligible for future government contracts. 
 
 The two senators, Republican Bill Cassidy and Democrat Sherrod Brown, said they were concerned that personal information maintained by Social Security Administration may also be at risk because the agency worked with Equifax to build its E-Authentication security platform. 
 
 Equifax has reported that for 2016, state and federal governments accounted for 5 percent of its total revenue of $3.1 billion. 
 
 FILE PHOTO: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) addresses the audience at the morning plenary session at the Netroots Nation conference for political progressives in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. August 12, 2017. REUTERS/Christopher Aluka Berry 
 
 Equifax, which creates individual credit reports used by lenders to assess a consumer’s creditworthiness, has come under intense criticism for what has been described as a slow, inadequate and confusing response to the hack. 
 
 The company has hired public relations companies DJE Holdings and McGinn and Company to manage its response to the hack, PR Week reported. Equifax and the two PR firms declined to comment on the report. 
 
 400,000 BRITONS AFFECTED 
 
 Investors have dumped Equifax’s stock, with share prices down more than a third since the company disclosed the hack on Sept. 7. Shares shed another 3.8 percent on Friday to close at $92.98. 
 
 Credit reporting company Equifax Inc. corporate offices are pictured in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., September 8, 2017. REUTERS/Tami Chappell 
 
 Equifax, which disclosed the breach more than a month after it learned of it on July 29, said at the time that thieves may have stolen the personal information of 143 million Americans in one of the largest hacks ever. 
 
 The problem is not restricted to the United States. 
 
 Equifax said on Friday that data on up to 400,000 Britons was stolen in the hack because it was stored in the United States. The data included names, email addresses and telephone numbers but not street addresses or financial data, Equifax said. 
 
 Canada’s privacy commissioner said on Friday that it has launched an investigation into the data breach. Equifax is still working to determine the number of Canadians affected, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada said in a statement. 
 
 In her letters to the regulators, Warren questioned the overall regulatory framework for credit reporting agencies, which are not subject to the same scrutiny as mortgage lenders or credit card providers. 
 
 The CFPB supervises credit reporting firms’ compliance with consumer protection laws but does not directly license or intensively monitor the companies. 
 
 A spokesperson for the CFPB did not reply to a request for comment.
– Sen. Elizabeth Warren—and 11 other Democratic senators—introduced legislation Friday targeting credit reporting companies in the wake of the Equifax data breach that affected 143 million US consumers, Reuters reports. In short, the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act would keep Equifax from profiting off its own data breach, according to CNN. "Credit reporting agencies like Equifax make billions of dollars collecting and selling personal data about consumers without their consent, and then make consumers pay if they want to stop the sharing of their own data," Warren says. The bill would allow people to freeze and unfreeze their credit free of charge. Freezing credit prevents new lines of credit, loans, credit cards, and more from being opened. Experts have urged people to freeze their credit in the wake of the Equifax hack. The bill would also give people an additional free credit report every year and keep credit reporting companies from profiting off consumers' data while their credit is frozen. Bloomberg reports Warren sent letters to Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian Plc demanding information on how the industry is responding to the data breach. In her letter to Equifax, she says she was "troubled" by the hack. Despite widespread outrage over the Equifax data breach, it's possible the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act will stall in a Republican-controlled Congress.