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Equifax's App Has Disappeared From Apple's App Store and Google Play (fastcompany.com)
From a report: Equifax's mobile app has been removed from both the iOS and Google Play app stores. According to data from AppAnnie, the app was taken down the same day Equifax announced its massive security breach (September 7). Now customers no longer have access to Equifax Mobile. For example, when iOS users attempt to access the app, they receive a pop-up requiring them to update the program. The pop-up directs users to the App Store -- where they are informed the Equifax app is no longer available. We don't know why the app came down, though Fast Company has confirmed Apple was not involved with the decision to remove Equifax from the App Store.
After a breach that big, it's hard to see them coming out of the other side as a financially sound company. Especially since it's an agency the deals with credit ratings. If you can't trust them to keep your data secure, is there any point having business with them?
I'll be here waiting for the news of their bankruptcy
If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat
The real problem isn't "the equifax app", whatever the fuck that is. The real problem is:
For example, when iOS users attempt to access the app, they receive a pop-up requiring them to update the program. The pop-up directs users to the App Store -- where they are informed the Equifax app is no longer available.
Do not allow ANY company that much control over your computing environment. If they don't abuse it today, they will tomorrow. Today it may be some stupid shit you don't care about. Tomorrow it will be something you do.
Personal computing used to be in the hands of its owners. If we all decide it's OK to give that control away and centralize all decision making, that is saying China has the right model about centralized control, and the model that existed from the dawn of the personal computing era in the 1970's that empowered users instead of companies was wrong.
Frankly they have alot of friends in Washington (both parties) that they pay alot of money to - to buy off.
This is so true.
Equifax Lobbied for Easier Regulation Before Data Breach
Sept. 11, 2017
Equifax Inc. was lobbying lawmakers and federal agencies to ease up on regulation of credit-reporting companies in the months before its massive data breach.
Equifax spent at least $500,000 on lobbying Congress and federal regulators in the first half of 2017, according to its congressional lobbying-disclosure reports. Among the issues on which it lobbied was limiting the legal liability of credit-reporting companies.
The amount Equifax spent in the first half of this year appears to be in line with previous spending. In 2016 and 2015, the company’s reports show it spent $1.1 million and $1.02 million, respectively, on lobbying activities. While the company had broadly similar lobbying issues in those years, the liability matter was new in 2017.
Equifax’s political-action committee made contributions to 13 members of the Financial Services Committee during the 2016 election cycle, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Among the recipients was Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), who received $1,000. Last Friday, he called for his committee’s hearing into the breach.
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R., Mo.), chairman of the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit subcommittee that directly handles matters relating to the reporting companies, received $2,000. Also receiving $2,000 was Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R., Ga.), sponsor of the bill that would place a $500,000 cap on the statutory damages consumers could win in a lawsuit against the credit-reporting companies, as well as eliminate punitive damages against them entirely.
The Equifax PAC also gave two additional $1,000 donations to Rep. Luetkemeyer this year, in April and June, according to Federal Election Commission records. The April donation was eight days before Rep. Loudermilk’s bill was introduced.
At last week’s hearing into the liability limits bill and other regulatory overhaul measures, Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center, said the proposed legislation “drastically decreases the consequences for credit bureaus” when they violate the law.
Equifax has also lobbied on changes to rules governing companies that promise to “repair” consumers’ credit. A separate bill pending before the Financial Services Committee would allow credit-reporting companies to offer credit-education and identity-protection services without being subject to rules governing credit-repair companies.
Those apps were very powerful. Wanna bet that the code that works with the apps was the source of the breach? Equifax Places utilizes your GPS location to show you: * Equifax Credit Score : Average credit scores in your area * Fraud Index: The frequency of identity fraud in your area * Credit Rankings: How your credit measures up to others in your area Want more? With an eligible Equifax product, you can also: * Lock and unlock your Equifax credit file* * View alerts to key credit file changes * Check your Credit Score — anywhere, anytime * Get one stop protection if you ever lose your wallet http://www.equifax.com/mobile/
In March 2017, Equifax announced "Equifax Ignite" "Equifax Ignite Marketplace - Solutions are delivered in the form of downloadable apps that can be leveraged for visualizing and digesting applicable data, benchmarks, and trends across multiple industries." "Equifax Ignite Direct - This high-speed solution allows users to conduct their own analytics using direct access to our data warehouse, our attributes, and analytical tools. Seamless integration enables teams to self-serve as they build, test and deploy models that suit their unique needs. This will appeal to clients who have sophisticated analytics shops in house where access to data and Equifax tools can significantly enhance their own capabilities." https://finance.yahoo.com/news...
Despite what people think, consumers are not their customer.
Technically, I am a customer. Due to other data breaches, I wound up on their credit monitoring plan. Therefore, a bill is being paid to them to provide me with credit alerts and such. This means that not only did they lose my data, but now, as a result, they are not providing the advertised services that are being paid for.
(Of course, I only go to their website and access this data via a secure desktop browser from a trusted network and never from my phone, but still.... )
With this said, your point is well made. They are an organization that collects massive amounts of PII data without the consent of those whose data is collected and stored. For them to call the 99.9% of the population that does not do business directly with them "customers" is, to say the least, a deceitful misnomer.
Check your premises.