NEW YORK — There's no way around it: The news from credit reporting company Equifax that 143 million Americans had their information exposed is extremely serious.Crucial pieces of personal data that criminals could use to commit identity theft — Social Security numbers, birthdates, address histories, legal names — were all obtained. That's information that cannot change. And once that data is out there, it's basically out there forever."The crown jewels of personal information were exposed and potentially stolen," said John Ulzheimer, an independent credit consultant who previously worked at Equifax.Equifax's key role in the financial industry makes this breach more alarming than previous ones at Yahoo or retailers.