Equifax Data Breach, Cybersecurity Failures and Executive Stock Sales
Equifax revealed a massive cyber attack impacting 143 million Americans, exposing sensitive data including Social Security numbers and birth dates. Critics and lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren have called for investigations into why the company waited six weeks to announce the hack. Reports indicate three senior executives sold $1.8 million in stock shortly after the breach was discovered, though the company claims they were unaware of the incident at the time.
equifax· data breach· rick smith· elizabeth warren· cybersecurity· social security numbers
00:00 Hashtag DACA. Tracking Irma, Jose and the Algos! And coming to you from the darkest corners of the internet here in downtown Austin-Tejas capital of the drawing star state In The Cluedio. In The Morning everybody I'm Adam Curry. And from Northern Silicon Valley where i'm overlooking my Equifax report... ...I'm John C. DeVorelli. It's Crackpot & Buzzkill! IN THE MORNING! Yeah we're screwed Oh yeah This is one of the best news stories that has come out
00:42 I know. If it wasn't for these hurricanes, they could really do something with this story And they should and so should Elizabeth Warren She should be on every Sunday morning news show! She can make hay with this? I haven't seen her Did you just corner yourself into arbitration by admitting that you had requested your report or your protection No, I didn't do anything actually That's what everyone is now saying Just some background Equifax this is Let's go background to the background. This is a racketeering operation all right you may continue In the United States of Gitmo nation we have a couple of services and they actually three Equifax what are the three? I don't know there's three Equifax Interfax and old facts All right facts fact-check false fact check false
01:38 And these companies track your credit score based upon some magic formula, and your life is pretty much beholden to it. When I moved back to the United States in 2000... was it 5 or 6? Something like that, later than that Anyway, when I was a kid and have these services. Well, I didn't have any credit history and then I couldn't do anything like Just recently actually you it didn't have you couldn't do anything until like about three or four years ago I could barely rent an apartment without getting a co-signer right? Or no one apart had to pay six months in advance member at San Francisco Yeah, we trust you pay us six months in advance but you know, I haven't done the bat signal haven't done any of this stuff
02:28 Well, why don't you give us a little background on the... The background for before the Backgrounder. Do you have any clips for this? Well, yeah I do. Yeah let's play the clip. The massive cyber attack on the credit report company Equifax has already triggered a class action lawsuit and calls for congressional investigation. Equifax revealed on Thursday that hackers earlier this year stole the personal information of 143 million Americans. Here is Chip Reid Equifax keeps track of the credit ratings of American consumers, which means its database is a massive treasure trove of personal information including birth dates social security numbers and addresses. Aviva Leighton is a cybersecurity analyst This is basically the Irma data breaches It's at 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 for the hackers it's like finding a gold mine And they can take out a mortgage they can file tax refunds
03:27 for social security benefits, you name it. They can take all your benefits away." What should your average consumer do? Consumers need to be hyper vigilant and monitor their accounts. I apologize to every affected consumer. Equifax CEO Rick Smith posted this statement on the company's website. While we've made significant investments in cybersecurity We have more to do and we will. Maybe so, but this is the third major hack of Equifax in less than two years. It makes you wonder did they do as much as they could've done? Critics also wonder why Equifax waited six weeks to announce the hack and they want to know why three senior executives sold $1.8 million dollars in Equifax stock soon after the hack was discovered. Equifax says that the executives did not know about the breach at the time
04:18 The perpetrators of the hack have not yet been identified, but some experts say these massive hacks are often done by international cyber criminal organizations who then sell the information to Russia or China for millions of dollars. Chifri, CBS News Washington I'm surprised we haven't already blamed Russia or China Why haven't we blamed anyone? There is no, not a word. Not a single word about who might... Usually with a hack like this immediately there's information about who it might have been and of course they have hired a private security firm one recently acquired by FireEye pew-pew pew-pew
