![]() CERT”) sent Equifax and many others a notice of the need to patch a particular vulnerability in certain versions of software used by other businesses. ![]() Department of Homeland Security, Computer Emergency Readiness Team (“U.S. ![]() Chronologically, the key events are as follows: Still, the rollout of these resources should have been far better, and I regret that the response exacerbated rather than alleviated matters for so many.įirst and foremost, I want to respond to the question that is on everyone’s mind, which is, “How did this happen?” In my testimony, I will address both what I learned and did at key times in my role as CEO, and what I have since learned was occurring during those times, based on the company’s ongoing investigation. The company dramatically increased the number of customer service representatives at the call centers and the website has been improved to handle the large number of visitors. The scale of this hack was enormous and we struggled with the initial effort to meet the challenges that effective remediation posed. We were disappointed with the rollout of our website and call centers, which in many cases added to the frustration of American consumers. We have also taken steps to better protect consumer data moving forward. This puts the control of consumers’ credit information where it belongs – with the consumer. Equifax also recently announced an important new tool that has been under development for months that will allow consumers to lock and unlock their credit files repeatedly, for life, at no cost. All five of these services are free and without cost to all Americans. The relief package includes: (1) monitoring of consumer credit files across all three bureaus, (2) access to Equifax credit files, (3) the ability to lock the Equifax credit file, (4) an insurance policy to cover out-of-pocket costs associated with identity theft and (5) dark web scans for consumers’ social security numbers. We developed a robust package of remedial protections for each and every American consumer – not just those affected by the breach – to protect their credit information. Ultimately we realized we had been the victim of a massive theft, and we set out to notify American consumers, protect against increased attacks, and remediate and protect against harm to consumers. Upon learning of suspicious activity, I and many others at Equifax worked with outside experts to understand what had occurred and do everything possible to make this right. These mistakes – made in the same chain of security systems designed with redundancies – allowed criminals to access over 140 million Americans’ data. As I will explain in greater detail below, the investigation continues, but it appears that the breach occurred because of both human error and technology failures. You can read his full testimony on the committee’s website.Īmericans want to know how this happened and I am hopeful my testimony will help in that regard. On Monday, Equifax announced some 2.5 more million people were affected in the breach than it originally thought, bringing the total number of affected customers to 145.5 million, the Associated Press reported.Īn independent investigation of the hack conducted by Mandiant is also expected “promptly,” the Associated Press reported. The state of Massachusetts has also filed a separate suit. More than two dozen class-action lawsuits have been filed against Equifax over the hack. READ MORE: Affected by the Equifax hack? Here’s what to do nowĪt the hearing, Smith will likely face more of the anger that followed the initial announcement of the breach - which compromised names, birth dates and social security numbers, among other sensitive data - last month. But his prepared remarks offer a glimpse of what occurred. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection. In a prepared testimony ahead of his appearance before a congressional panel, former Equifax CEO Richard Smith said he was “deeply sorry” about a data breach last month that exposed the personal data of more than 143 million consumers, saying his company “failed to prevent sensitive information from falling into the hands of wrongdoers.”īut how exactly did that happen? Smith, who had served as chairman and CEO of Equifax for 12 years before stepping down in light of the breach last month, will offer his own version of events in a Tuesday morning appearance before the U.S.
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