The fine should be $1000 per infraction. That's $143 billion. Let's see if they have that kind of cash lying around.
No? Bankruptcy court we ago.
5
Equifax, et al. Enough is enough.
Cyber security and data security is too important to be left to people who are trying to optimize their bottom line. The long history of these incidents shows that these repeating events are an egregious example of the failure of the private sector and the need for the public sector to aggressively move into this space; with the development of standards that define both civil and criminal failures, expressed in both an action and a failure to take action, to safeguard the data of the citizenry. No doubt if these executives responsible for safeguarding these data face jail time for their lack to act correctly and timely, a lot of this would right itself. The same standard should be applied to those on government managing public data stores that includes our electoral system. The Sarbanes-Oxley legislative solution provides a model cure for inclusion of data protection. Enough is enough.
4
This is the swamp Trump voters should be worried about.
4
How do people who steal the personal details of others (from Equifax) manage to use the stolen information to get credit to spend from multiple providers usually on the same day and usually same location? (i.e a Shopping Mall) how can a thief use the stolen information to be authorised to get 5 or even 10 separate lines of credit?
To avoid multiple lines of credit authorized in a single day, surely there must be a simple flagging system employed to prevent multiple purchases as when each credit provider performs a check , wouldn't the Credit score business notice multiple credit checks made on the same account so many times?
Also, can I assume that for any financial loss or debt incurred by data theft used against the person whose data was stolen (from Credit Company are they (the victim whose data was stolen) liable for any debt/losses?
I also hear of people who have had data stolen and it being used to empty out Bank Accounts, Investments and school funds and potentially destroying a family's ability to recover from such a loss...
In order for such accounts and large amounts of money to be stolen...wouldn't the thief also need passwords and specific account details to be able to steal that money.?
I take it America doesn't have a Bank Deposit guarantee system in place?
In my country the Government protects/guarantees any account containing a maximum amount of up to $500,000 in the event of a collapse, or a run on the bank etc?
This system seems 20 years behind ours
4
We just started getting chipped credit cards about two years ago. Maybe that will slow things down, maybe. When I tell Europeans that we just got chipped cards so recently they can't believe it. Europe and other countries are light years ahead of the US in so many ways.
3
Interesting comments and thoughts.
Maybe we should obtain the financial info about everyone that works at Equifax and see how they feel when data for them can be made available. I am sure if they knew that their identify was "out there" or could be placed "out there" they would work very hard to secure that data - at any cost and at top speed. Maybe then Equifax would not need to spend so much money to lobby Washington.
6
Don't hold your breath. There will be a few made for TV hearings. Some outrage uttered with big words. An uncomfortable grilling of the CEO for a few hours. Meanwhile the news will drip in every few days that the hack is actually worse than previously reported a la Wells Fargo. This is only what our good for nothing Congress is capable of. A bunch of self selected narcissists whole sole job is to get reelected endlessly without any pretense of performance. Voters will keep reelecting their congressperson on narrow issues well into their 80's so why should they bother.
10
Slaps upon the wrists, a few tut-tuts, maybe a terse tongue lashing, an eye roll or two, insincere apologies and that's it, done. Time for martinis.
3
Equifax spent $1.1 million on lobbying last year.....BECAUSE THEY SELL OUR INFORMATION. stop this NOW.
8
I'm a new parent looking to purchase both a car and a house soon - nice to know that the company which I've never explicitly given my information to is now responsible for possibly compromising not only my financial opportunities, but those of my expanding family as well.
I am appalled and disgusted with the response from Equifax, and the idea that they would be charging people money for services that were not in place by default.
The idea that because of their complete oversight and lack of adequate cyber security, I am now forced to jump through MANY laborious, complicated and confusing hopes just to protect my own personal information, which again I never explicitly gave, is ludicrous.
Something has to change, now. Don't let these guys off the hook or forget about this one people - this is but a glimpse of things to come.
9
Nothing can change until the next Presidential election. Until then, the scammers are safe.
3
That so many in congress want to protect business against being held accountable through functional transparency makes sense given they also demonstrate the same lack of accountability and transparency. And given the vast sums of money that business spends on lobbying, there's little incentive for elected representatives to take the side of citizens. After all, corporations are people too according to the supreme court. Lucky us.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
2
And that leftist Liz Warren wants to fight the softening of consumer protections. That's what you get from a leftist, consumer protection over the financial interest lobbying.
6
For a Congress normally obsessed with National Security, there's only one reason why they don't tightly regulate, or even outlaw, the massive data trafficking cartel that works hand-in-hand with the banks - $
Data traffickers betray our sovereignty as citizens by keeping files on us without our permission, made even more grievous by selling it to any Tom, Dick, and Harry from any country in the World willing to pay for it, or just making it available for free to international or domestic hackers, even state actors, as a result of lax security.
You can bet that if we citizens formed a data collection agency that targeted Congressmen and offered it for sale, they'd pass a law against it in a NY Minute. They'd make it retroactive, render us to some black site for indefinite detention, and label us Terrorists. Well I feel terrorized by these firms, and I certainly don't trust Congress to do anything about it to protect us.
Congress is focusing myopically on insider trading by 3 execs, as if that's the worst part of this fiasco. If their own financial files and other personal data was hacked and they become open to blackmail, they might get around to some real action, otherwise bupkis, almost as if they don't have credit files.
The upside is if their own hacked data ends up in the public realm, we might find out what they're REALLY worth and a few other secrets besides. Every cloud has a silver lining, and I'm praying for rain.
5
Well if hackers and thieves can ruin the credit of individuals just wait till they get into federal and state credit ratings and bank accounts etc. That might wake them up if they are not the ones syphoning off the money.
2
Corporations oversee our government, not the other way around.
8
I believe this is the definition of Fascism.
4
According to Mussolini, that is the definition.
Equifax cannot even equifax cannot even be bothered to boost its website to permit easy credit freezes. I've tried multiple times every day since last Saturday. Usually the request simply times out. But today I got a message that I'd have to mail materials and supporting documents. What an epic failure! There must be punishment and there must be remedies going forward.
7
Let's hope that every the credit files of every lobbyist, every Hill staffer and every member of Congress has been compromised.
5
Where is the "anti Wiki Leaks" the one not owned by Putin. Those hackers could have a field day and entertain us bigly.
They're way ahead of you. The bureaus have "VIP" departments to protect politicians' data.
This may be the best thing that ever happened. Instead of sitting around waiting for "Mr. Robot" we can finally take decisive actions. Any company that opens an account now without truly knowing who is at the other end is asking for trouble. Equifax's problems have now truly become a problem for every company doing business on the internet. This is huge and nobody is talking about it because they are all frightened to death.
At a minimum, credit reports should be frozen by default with the consumer paying a fee to temporarily open it when needed. No more "Would you like to sign up for a store credit card?" every time you're at the checkout. I don't know what to say about banks and insurance companies that never see their clients. Maybe they are next in line. It's time to look up from our phones and get away from our computers and talk to someone face to face. For now, human interaction is difficult to automate, robotize, or outsource.
7
How can a thief sign up for 20 lines of credit/credit cards in a day, and there not being a flag going up at the credit score company ,that would SURELY have a system that notices so many Credit Check requests on the same person so many times...otherwise what is the use of the credit score nompany? Liability also could not be the consumers whose details were stole....
2
Three things are now clear: our ‘swamp dwelling’ congress will continue to prioritize the corporate lobbyists and special interests groups over the needs of the American people; all data/systems exposed to the Internet are at risk and technology will not save us from technology; and once the finance industry sees the costs of identity fraud exceeding its profits then consumers will be forced to assume all losses. It’s like the boiling frog parable (we’re the frog!).
Who will save us? Clearly not our government as this article demonstrates. Our legal rights have been pretty much stripped away and most new service contracts include a clause that replaces our right to a jury trial with ‘arbitration’, so good luck with that (we really should read the small print). It’s starting to look like we are very much on our own.
Ranting and venting feels good but is not a solution, so I intend to remove my exposure to these risks as fast as I can sensibly do so, and if that means less technology, cash rather than credit, no social media, fewer financial service providers, all credit agency accounts frozen etc. then so be it.
7
I can assure you the folks at FICO (Fair, Isaac and Company) are whistling past the graveyard.
There is an unholy triumvirate of credit industry actors. Draw a triangle.
At the top is FICO. On the left are the lenders. On the right are the reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union.)
They set up this triangle specifically to avoid responsibility for their actions. Each party can always pass the buck to at least 2 others. But wait, there's more.
You can't prevent them from collecting "your information" because it isn't yours. You aren't the customer, unless you're a business. The data that describes you belongs to the companies, not to you. None of them is liable to you whether that data is accurate or false. They have bought many legislators and members of congress over many decades to buy this kind of protection.
Once you comprehend that subterfuge you'll feel much better about having your information stolen and used against you. /sarcasm
12
" whistling past the graveyard. ".....
That is the perfect metaphor. We are looking, also, at a lot of "poker faces" both in the financial industry and among the politicians. This is a true mess.
1
Thousands, if not millions, are likely to have their identity stolen because of this breach, yet no one at Equifax will face a single legal or financial penalty. That in our current environment is a given. It shouldn't be. This company should be forced to make reparations to everyone harmed by this and if it puts them out of business, so be it. At the very least, people will now have to freeze their credit reports and/or engage a credit monitoring bureau - all at their own expense - to protect themselves against fraud and identity theft, probably in perpetuity. I know I certainly do because my trust in any company or government entity to protect my personal data is less than zero. Too bad Equifax hadn't spent all that lobbying money on cybersecurity. We might no be in this mess now if they had.
These credit reporting bureaus have operated with too little oversight and regulation for far too long and unfortunately this is the result.
13
We need to establish stiff laws and stiffer penalties when any data breach occurs. Any organization that experiences a breach at the scale Equifax has obviously is irresponsible with personal information and should not be permitted to stay in business. That would be the example the people of the US would set to the other two credit bureaus. Have a data breach - go out of business. Also, the monitoring, locking, and unlocking of individual credit should be free to everyone and should apply to all three credit businesses forever!
It would be ironic if the current administration does nothing and a year or two from now their credit information shows up online or is used by the wrong person ruining their credit. They would surely be kicking themselves for not doing anything now. It would then be too late to do anything.
15
I wish someone would open a site where we could put our name, date of birth, social security number and mother's maiden name online. This would force the government and banks to stop looking at us as numbers and statistics and go back to good-ole face-to-face personal relationships with "We the People". Plus it would shutdown these irresponsible data collectors.
1
Of course no new rules will follow. Congress is controlled by friends and cohorts of large financial corporations. Equifax has its lobbyists handling out checks as I write this comment.
9
Are these checks that need to be reported under campaign financing laws? Or lobbying laws or has Trump weakened all those too.
Consumers need to start a PAC and every single politician that takes money from Equifax but does nothing to investigate, punish and change the laws around credit agencies and the handling of personal data shall be outed and hounded and hopefully defeated. This is one area that all Americans can agree on. No one likes their personal information messed with.
And if there are no charges for insider trading, all those responsible for dropping that ball need to be hounded and outed and demand their removal.
I am looking at you AG Sessions. Here is a small chance at redemption.
US taxpayers will suffer a huge hit from this security breach when criminals file for tax refunds based on the stolen information. Those refunds will be paid out twice - only once to the individual actually due the refund. Add to this the number of extra work hours required of IRS employees to sort through who is due what. So this is not strictly "private sector business".
Any company that stores sensitive government information such as SSN's and has the potential to negatively affect US Treasury funds and operations - and taxpayer money - should be subject to strict regulation by the US government. If these companies do not want that regulation, they should adopt a unique way of tracking people that does not include a taxpayer identifying number.
10
The deficit will soar thanks to multiple income tax filings and the refunds the fraud will generate. Can Congress be that dumb or venal?
1
The story here is not that another industry is resisting regulatory pressure. It's that the people are not clamoring for new and more effective regulations on the credit-reporting "industry," which is nothing more than a monopoly of three or four companies. Same is true for nursing homes, environmental protection, consumer product safety, fuel standards, lower taxes, health care, and so on.
The siren song of freedom rings loud in the ears of many common people. Not sure if they believe they will someday join the ranks of the wealthy, or if they believe the govt suppresses, rather than protects, them. But, since Reagan, common people have bought into lies and deception. For how much longer?
5
As much as the readers might hate this, if Trump were successful in draining the swamp, our worthless, but purchased, legislators would be replaced by people willing to protect us, rather than donors.
1
He's not interested in 'draining the swamp'. That was just an advertising line to get elected. It's clearer every day his interest in the position was for personal gain - the quintessential definition of 'swamp'.
12
He had no intention of "draining the swamp". He's only been adding to it. And the president has no control over legislators. They are elected positions.
11
Trump says a lot of things, in fact for every single thing he says there is probably another statement he said directly contradicting it (there are many examples right on his own twitter).
Draining the swamp was just another empty campaign promise that he has absolutely no intention of fulfilling, he just wants to make sure the swamp serves his interests. He is like the creature from the swamp coming up from the depths claiming he wants to drain the swamp.
Can you actually point to any single action he has done since being inaugurated that would point to draining the swamp, rather than the opposite like nominating another swamp creature like mnunchin to treasury?
5
There is a simple solution. Nationalize all three of the supposed "credit agencies". They have become Wall Street entities run by people with no social conscience, moral or ethical compasses and care only about how much profit they can make off OUR personal information.
Nationalize them and put them under the direction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Senator Elizabeth Warren and President Obama put in place to protect US - 90% of us - from these Robber Barons. At the same time put new rules into place, codified into law, that no President of congressional body can de-fund and/or otherwise take power from the agency that works for ALL Americans.
Our lives - social and economic - depend on it.
34
Right, because government computer systems are the most up to date and secure in the world, right? Sorry, much as I dislike companies like Equifax, the government is poorly equipped to do this.
Secondly, as these credit companies track almost everything about our purchases, spending, etc., I do not want to turn all of that directly over to the government to do with as they please. It's none of their business.
1
@njglea
The OPM, the federal Office of Personnel Management, lost 4 million files of former and current government employees in 2015 which included the whole enchilada, Social Security numbers to fingerprints to security clearance background investigations. At least they provided us with 3 years of free credit monitoring, with fraud alerts placed on all our files at the credit reporting agencies - if that's any consolation for having our entire lives exposed.
Who ran the OPM? Obama appointed the former National Director of his re-election campaign, someone lacking the qualifications to run that agency.
As long as the government is stocked with millionaires, billionaires, and campaign hacks rewarded for their loyalty or campaign donations, the government is going to remain just as incompetent and criminally negligent as the private sector. That's just the system we have.
4
Hear, hear! And the phrase "Robber Barons"
is right on target.
1
See how your Congressperson voted on repealing the Consumer Financial Protection Rule and permitting Equifax and its ilk to force you into arbitration:
231 Republicans YES, 1 Republican NO
189 Democrats NO, 0 Democrats YES
There is a difference. (And the difference between parties on this issue should be explicitly mentioned in this article somewhere.)
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll412.xml
27
Wow the timing of this vote on July 25, 2017 is also very interesting.
Equifax claims it only knew about the hack on July 29, 2017. Yeah I bet though the hacks started in mid May apparently. Smells rotten to me. They wanted to make sure that legislation got through and got those shares dumped first.
1
Certainly 143 million American votes are more influential than lobbyists.
2
Not true, unfortunately.
4
NOT so, sadly.
3
Only if you use your vote to punish the party who is most pro corporate interests. After all the GOP and even Trump are openly taking orders from the Koch Brothers. In most democracies, that would be outright illegal.
2
This company should have the same fate as Arthur Anderson after the Enron debacle. Meantime, everyone who has the time and patience should file suit in small claims court. They have caused many of us irreparable harm. I don't expect that many suits will be successful but any and all nuisance activity directed at this arrogant company ought to be pursued.
19
It's Arthur Andersen, not Anderson.
1
Used Care Salesmen look like saints compared to Lobbyists. We're in a quandary: Our current administration utterly lacks a moral compass, and we rely on big business to convey moral integrity, yet should we, really? We are caught between two groups that are solely self-serving. What a world, what a world...
11
They call them robber barons or war profiteers in the early 20th century - why did anyone think big business is interested in conveying moral integrity or at most, it is the exception not the rule.
1
We must make them follow. We all know lawmakers are bought and sold but we are not. Hold their feet to the fire - all of them - till this is done.
6
Easy to say until we get in the voting booth and we pull the lever for the incumbent in almost 100% of elections.
2
I hope every single lobbyist gets their personal data stolen causing them years worth of grief and paperwork.
I hope every single congressional representative who sides with the multi-million dollar crooks gets their personal data stolen causing them years worth of grief and paperwork.
I hope every single Equifax employee who pushes these unethical "regulations" gets their personal data stolen causing them years worth of grief and paperwork.
9
You notice under there is even less transparency when it comes to lobbyists many of whom got jobs in the Trump administration. I did read that Elizabeth Warren is pushing for an investigation into Equifax and changing the rules ie credit freezes should be free.
4
Wish Equifax would have spent $1.1 million bolstering their cyber security, rather than lobbying Congress. As the lowly consumer/data mine, we have nothing to show for this expenditure.
31
Almost every adult citizen of this country has had irreparable damage done to his/her financial lives by Equifax and its shareholders. One cannot change one’s date of birth, nor one’s name to accommodate the company’s gross negligence. And one should not be expected to move to change one’s address because of its incompetence.
If nothing is done now by the federal government to protect and make whole the lives of millions, it will be the crowning achievement of the lobbyists. It will also demonstrate how far this republic has fallen into the collection of lies, deceit, deception, duplicity and mendacity that are all 3 branches of the US government.
(As a former health insurance customer of Aetna, my financial data and that of 80 million other people was stolen about 2 years ago. With the current Equifax hit on 143 million people, I already have my credit reports frozen, new bank accounts frozen with the company, ChexSystems, and have a credit monitoring/credit repair company engaged. I shouldn’t have had to do that 2 years ago, but everything is set to go now with this Equifax mess. Except I’ve been trying to change the PIN on my Equifax freeze, but have been unable to reach Equifax for 2 days. This current incident is unconscionable, as were those of Aetna and Yahoo.)
8
This woeful story is, like all the many others of late, a tale of
the dysfunction of the self governing systems inherited from
a much simpler time, that are now painfully
out of date. The imbalance of power between large
private interests and the individual citizen is essentially
compatible with that between the elites of the Communist
Party and the ordinary Soviet or Chinese citizen.
If the democrat party had half a brain it would realize that
a central point is the collapse of the regulatory state we are
in the midst of living through with the support of far too
many ordinary citizens who simply don't believe that
such a state ever was capable of protecting them. Responding effectively
to and overcoming their skepticism is a sine qua non for getting the country
out of its current morass.
So much money has been successfully spent convincing such
people that regulation to protect their interests is code
for protecting vested interests of regulators instead, and
is a vehicle by which precious individual liberties are eroded
to increase their taxes.
Finding counterexamples to this big lie
is like shooting fish in a barrel. Yet the myth persists, and intoned to defend keeping power in hands of private interests.
The corruption of the political system that swims in pay to play megabucks
can't be overestimated as the main culprit. Yet public cynicism is so
deep that far too few believe in any remedy. For example, public financing
of campaigns has little support.
3
Great! The credit reporting agencies collected my personal data, sold it to other businesses without my permission or knowledge, could not keep it from being stolen through sheer negligence, now want my money to tell me if my data is being stolen again and bought off politicians to look the other way. This violates all sense of corporate and political responsibility to protect the consumers. Shame upon Equifax and their bought politicians!
14
More than likely, nobody will be held responsible for this nor will they ever spend a day inside a jail cell. It will go back to business as usual and once again the average US citizen will lose. This is the truth.
20
Equifax is but one company profiting from our personal information. Just wait for the data breach from TransUnion or Experian. It's all happened before and will continue unless Congress finally decides corporations are not people. https://www.wired.com/1995/09/equifax
11
We will now all have the pleasure and privilege of watching the credit reporting agencies get away with this latest abomination because it matters not what is right or wrong; it matters which of our representatives have been bought and paid for.
If this does not motivate you to call, write or email your senators and representatives and demand action, democracy has died at the behest of the corporate beneficiaries of Citizens United.
38
As we creep closer and closer towards a corporate Fascist society, we should re-examine the roles of the lobbyists. Who gave them so much power and control of our government?
19
Follow the money - campaign contributions.
6
The actions of Equifax and the other credit reporting companies make my blood boil. As a consumer, I have no direct relationship with these companies. They make money off my data without my direct permission. I don't benefit a wit from them. Yet I carry all the risk from their security breaches. That's bad enough....
Then they have the gall to lobby for protections from consumer class-action lawsuits and other consumer protections? Over my dead body!
I wish I had a giant opt-out button I could push on Equifax and many other companies who make money off my data while putting me at risk.
31
The Republican Party represents the Corporate State rather than the people who elected them, much less voted against them. There is a single word that aptly describes any and all of their legislative efforts: Reprehensible.
4
That's exactly the word!
These credit agencies should absolutely be regulated. It's impossible to get them to do their job. An accidental collection on my credit report and it took me 3 months to get it off from three credit agencies.
"Oh, we cant do it on the phone". "You need to send a letter." and now you gave away my information to hackers? are you kidding me ?
If we don't regulate now, this would be a missed opportunity. Let's bring in something like HIPAA for security and a more customer-oriented service.
34
I don't understand why these bureaus are for-profit businesses. They should be... and can be made to be...agencies of the U.S. government, with strict rules and protections. According to Wikipedia, "Equifax has US$ 3.1 billion in annual revenue and 9,000 employees in 14 countries." Btw, when I called both TransUnion and Equifax to place a freeze on my information, one person was located in India, and the other in Philippines. (I never thought to ask the Experion rep who assisted me, so I don't know where she was located.)
7
Welcome to the plutocracy! The rich and the corporations have all the rights on their side and the rest of us pay up no matter what.
The dark days are coming where unless you vote Republican you won't be able to vote according to Kobach, because voting for Democrats is to commit voter fraud.
9
Equifax. Wells Fargo. Fraudulent accounts. Lost data. Corporate doublespeak. Golden parachutes for executives. Prevarication. Insider trading. Overt lies. Complicit Boards of Directors. Meaningless regulation. Captured regulators. Bought-and-sold legislators.
THIS is what makes America What It Is Today!
("The Greatest County The World Has Ever Known" --Bob Dole, at al.)
17
We know that the credit reporting agencies (along with a myriad of other corporate criminals) own Traitor Trump. Can we have a list of the senators and congressmen that are also in their pockets?
12
It amazes me that there are so few comments on this article when so much is at stake for so many Americans. Once again the profit making corporation ("job creators") trump the needs of ordinary citizens. We have little protection while Citizens United allows corporations to buy Congress.
13
Any company that collects consumers' financial data for profit should be made 100% liable for damages if that data is stolen while under its control, and then exploited by criminals.
100% liable for damages.
Hold these businesses fully responsible for their chronic incompetence and we'll see heroic efforts at protecting data.
64
I did not give the credit companies my personal information, nor did I give them permission to use it for their own profit. Now Equifax has misused my information; shouldn't I have some legal recourse?
54
Should you? Absolutely! Whether or not you do is entirely up to Congress and the courts. God save us from the oligarchy.
It's too bad that members of Congress and Trump haven't had their identities stolen. That appears to be the only way ordinary consumers will get any protection from these bullying, overreaching and irresponsible credit behemoths.
21
The higher the credit score the bigger the target.
Even if our lawmakers get hacked, nothing will happen to improve security and consequences, and that is just disgusting - this is a prime example of where lobbyist's are a danger to the public.
The selling of stock by Equifax before divulging the security breach is way beyond printable comment.
25
Rest assured, in Citizens United the Supreme Court ruled there was no corporate corruption in donating unlimited funds to campaign war chests. The idea that we should block consumer class action suits to provide financial security for large corporations boggles the mind. Congress might as well pass a "fraud of the week" million dollar prize to be given the corporation that perpetrates the most harm to consumers.
29
The credit agencies bemoan new rules as onerous and unnecessary red tape. What about the onerous and unnecessary steps consumers have to take to protect themselves from credit agencies who negligently handle their personal information? No one is asking the credit agencies to accumulate all this data about everyone. The responsibility to protect this data is on them, and in the case of Equifax, it has failed. The responsible thing would be to revoke Equifax's corporate charter and shut it down.
As consumers, since we are exposed to credit fraud on account of these credit agencies, we should be able to do at no charge to us, lock our credit reports at no cost, be provided credit monitoring at no cost, and be able to see at no cost, who is asking to see our credit information.
43