Identity Theft

The bad headlines continue to roll in for Equifax, the credit reporting giant currently at the center of an investigation into a massive data breach which compromised sensitive personal data of 143 million Americans, potentially subjecting them to a lifetime threat of identity theft. As the reader is likely aware, Equifax has recently been in the news due to a data breach which gave hackers access to sensitive information such as the names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and even driver’s license information stored in the company’s digital files. Making matters worse, reports indicate that Equifax had knowledge of the vulnerability of its software as far back as March 7, and even a software patch which would fix the problem, yet failed to act. By mid-May hackers used the vulnerability to access Equifax’s data files. Cybersecurity experts say that a typical bank would have patched the vulnerability “within a few days,” making Equifax's two month delay inexplicable and inexcusable. Adding [...]