Equifax

Equifax said data on 143 million U.S. customers was obtained in a breach. The breach was discovered July 29. Personal data including birth dates, credit card numbers and more were obtained in the breach. Three Equifax executives sold shares in the company days after the breach was discovered.

Equifax on Monday evening disclosed up-to-date details on its massive 2017 security breach. It was worse than we thought. Millions more people than originally reported had their details exposed; 56,200 passports, drivers’ licenses, and other documents were also affected by the hack.

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) today released a comprehensive report examining the reasons for the massive breach of personal information from Equifax one year ago today. The report covers the breach and both company and governmental actions in response since.

I hate to say I told you so … well, actually, like most people, I love to say I told you so. I’m just willing to admit it. Because the state of software security a year after the catastrophic data breach of Equifax became public, basically confirms what I wrote last October: It would generate lots of sound and fury, but wouldn’t signify any game-changing improvements.

Hackers stole the personal data of nearly 150 million people from Equifax databases in 2017. How did Equifax, a consumer reporting agency, respond to that event? Equifax said that it investigated factors that led to the breach and tried to identify and notify people whose personal information was compromised.

There is very little doubt that Equifax’s negligent security practices were a major contributing factor in the massive breach of 145.5-million Americans’ most sensitive information. In the wake of the breach, EFF has spent a lot of time thinking through how to ensure that such a catastrophic breach doesn’t happen again and, just as importantly, what Congress can do to ensure that victims of massive data breaches are compensated fairly when a company is negligent with their sensitive data. In this post, we offer up some suggestions that will go a long way in accomplishing those goals.