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This guy needs to be held personally responsible. But he won’t be and that makes me extremely mad. It sucks that the rich and wealthy can be as morally bankrup

This guy needs to be held personally responsible. But he won’t be and that makes me extremely mad. It sucks that the rich and wealthy can be as morally bankrupt as they want without any/many consequences.

malux85 9y ago
Thank you. Understanding enough encryption to know how to protect your company data would take about 1 day of learning, every CEO should know this, no excuses. I dont expect them to be able to debate cipher strengths or argue key length, but I do expect them to know about Machine-To-Machine communication, Data at rest, One-way encryption and what it takes to be HIPAA compliant etc, it's their job to know this, and it's NOT HARD. I makes me mad too.
- jnwatson 9y ago
  Equifax doesn't store medical data, so HIPAA doesn't apply. Here's the thing: short of some California disclosure laws, it isn't clear that Equifax broke any laws, or even any contracts. They don't have any particular duty to protect the data they have about you, other than protecting their own IP. Equifax is a clearing house for information that people say about you. Look, if I follow you around, reporting all your movements, write it down, and then my notes about you get posted on the internet, what law did I break? (Equifax used to report "his marital troubles, jobs, school history, childhood, sex life, and political activities", so it isn't that far of a stretch). Given that perspective, it makes sense that they would protect the data as much as any data vendor would. Certainly they didn't predict the PR backlash such a failure would cause and should have factored that in.
  - Silhouette 9y ago
    They don't have any particular duty to protect the data they have about you, other than protecting their own IP. They certainly do in much of the civilised world. The US is almost as far behind the norm in the modern world when it comes to privacy safeguards as it is in its banking and financial infrastructure.
  - astura 9y ago
    The FCRA gives them the duty to protect their information from unauthorized disclosure.
firloop 9y ago
To be fair, the headline quote is from the interim chief. Richard Smith, the CEO at the time of the breach, has already resigned.
- FRex 9y ago
  The interim CEO is not a complete newcomer though, he was in Equifax since April 2010[0] and is former head of the company’s Asia-Pacific business[0]. And considering the huge controversy around the data, it being their main/sole business and the fact it made his predecessor step down he should take a bit more interest than random journalists and randoms online to understand crystal clear what's going on in there, especially when preparing to go to a hearing in Congress to get drilled about it. Then there's this gem [0]: "Barros also led the company’s U.S. Information Solutions (USIS) business, which includes U.S.-based services that provide businesses with consumer and commercial information and insights related to areas of risk management, identity and fraud, marketing and a variety of industry-specific solutions." [0] - https://www.equifax.com/about-equifax/corporate-leadership/ https://www.equifax.com/about-equifax/corporate-leadership/

malux85 9y ago

Thank you. Understanding enough encryption to know how to protect your company data would take about 1 day of learning, every CEO should know this, no excuses. I dont expect them to be able to debate cipher strengths or argue key length, but I do expect them to know about Machine-To-Machine communication, Data at rest, One-way encryption and what it takes to be HIPAA compliant etc, it's their job to know this, and it's NOT HARD. I makes me mad too.

jnwatson 9y ago
Equifax doesn't store medical data, so HIPAA doesn't apply. Here's the thing: short of some California disclosure laws, it isn't clear that Equifax broke any laws, or even any contracts. They don't have any particular duty to protect the data they have about you, other than protecting their own IP. Equifax is a clearing house for information that people say about you. Look, if I follow you around, reporting all your movements, write it down, and then my notes about you get posted on the internet, what law did I break? (Equifax used to report "his marital troubles, jobs, school history, childhood, sex life, and political activities", so it isn't that far of a stretch). Given that perspective, it makes sense that they would protect the data as much as any data vendor would. Certainly they didn't predict the PR backlash such a failure would cause and should have factored that in.
- Silhouette 9y ago
  They don't have any particular duty to protect the data they have about you, other than protecting their own IP. They certainly do in much of the civilised world. The US is almost as far behind the norm in the modern world when it comes to privacy safeguards as it is in its banking and financial infrastructure.
- astura 9y ago
  The FCRA gives them the duty to protect their information from unauthorized disclosure.

firloop 9y ago

To be fair, the headline quote is from the interim chief. Richard Smith, the CEO at the time of the breach, has already resigned.

FRex 9y ago
The interim CEO is not a complete newcomer though, he was in Equifax since April 2010[0] and is former head of the company’s Asia-Pacific business[0]. And considering the huge controversy around the data, it being their main/sole business and the fact it made his predecessor step down he should take a bit more interest than random journalists and randoms online to understand crystal clear what's going on in there, especially when preparing to go to a hearing in Congress to get drilled about it. Then there's this gem [0]: "Barros also led the company’s U.S. Information Solutions (USIS) business, which includes U.S.-based services that provide businesses with consumer and commercial information and insights related to areas of risk management, identity and fraud, marketing and a variety of industry-specific solutions." [0] - https://www.equifax.com/about-equifax/corporate-leadership/ https://www.equifax.com/about-equifax/corporate-leadership/