Sep 7, 2017 6:07 PM
Credit-reporting company Equifax shocked investors, and more than a third of America, when it announced on Thursday afternoon that hackers had breached its data systems, compromising the personal information of approximately 143 million U.S. consumers. The information accessed "primarily includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers." In other words, pretty much everything that should have been hidden behind an n-number of firewalls, is now available to the dark net's highest bidder.
The company, which in delightful irony offers credit-monitoring and identity-theft protection products to "guard consumers’ personal information", said that it had learned of the incident on July 29, 2017, at which point it reported the intrusion to law enforcement and contracted a cybersecurity firm to conduct a forensic review: based on the company’s investigation, the unauthorized access occurred from mid-May through July 2017. Oddly enough, it took shareholders and over a third of America, more than a month longer to learn that all their personal data may have been compromised.
As if 143 million leaked social security numbers wasn't enough, Equifax said that criminals also accessed credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers. But wait, there's more: the company also identified unauthorized access to limited personal information for certain UK and Canadian residents.
The good news, is that according to Equifax, "this issue has been contained." The bad news is that, well, as many as 143 million social security numbers have been hacked. So no, it's not contained.
“This is clearly a disappointing event for our company, and one that strikes at the heart of who we are and what we do,” Equifax Chief Executive Richard Smith said in prepared remarks. “I apologize to consumers and our business customers for the concern and frustration this causes.”
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Two Equifax executives will retire following massive data breach
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/09/15/two-eq...
A week after Equifax disclosed it suffered a massive data breach that may have compromised sensitive information belonging to 143 million people, the credit reporting agency's chief information officer, David Webb, and chief security officer, Susan Mauldin, are retiring, effective immediately, the company said in a statement Friday evening.
The sudden departures come as Equifax has been the target of intense criticism over the lapses in security that led to the hack and the way the company has handled the aftermath.
Richard F. Smith, Equifax's chief executive, apologized for the breach in an op-ed published by USA Today earlier this week. “This is the most humbling moment in our 118-year history,” he said. But his promises to make changes at the company were not enough for many alarmed lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
At least two congressional hearings on the Equifax breach have been announced. The first scheduled panel will take place on Oct. 3, when Smith is expected to testify. A bipartisan group of 36 senators have asked the Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate reports Equifax executives sold stock after learning about the breach but before it was made public. The Federal Trade Commission took the unusual step of announcing it is conducting a probe into the Equifax breach.
A major frustration for consumers who've sought to protect themselves from the Equifax data breach has been having to pay for freezing and unfreezing their credit, as a precaution against fraud. On Friday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and a dozen other Democrats introduced a bill that would ban credit reporting bureaus such as Equifax, Experian and TransUnion from charging consumers for the service.
Equifax said in its statement the company would offer free security freezes through Nov. 21.
But that is unlikely to satisfy the demands of some elected officials.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Thursday the company's chief executive and board of directors should step down unless they take five steps to correct their mishandling: notify affected consumers; provide free credit monitoring to them for at least 10 years, offer to freeze their credit for up to 10 years; remove forced arbitration clauses from their terms of use; and comply with fines or new standards that come out of investigations.
“It’s only right that the CEO and board step down if they can’t reach this modicum of corporate decency by next week,” he said.
A diagram of China’s Long March 3 family of rockets. The Long March 3B, center, features four strap-on boosters. Credit: China Great Wall Industry Corp.
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