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In a Highly Unusual Move, FTC Confirms It Is Investigating Equifax (reuters.com)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday confirmed it is investigating Equifax's handling of a data breach affecting 143m Americans. "The FTC typically does not comment on ongoing investigations. However, in light of the intense public interest and the potential impact of this matter, I can confirm that FTC staff is investigating the Equifax data breach," said Peter Kaplan, the commission's acting director of public affairs. Washington Post reporter tweeted: "To put a finer point on it, this is really, really unusual -- the FTC hardly ever says anything about ongoing probes."
Slap on the wrist, formal apology issued, dinner and drinks at the White House with the executives of the company so that they can swear fealty, and back to #MAGA. Next problem? This is easy.
It would be surprising is there WASN'T an investigation given Equifax has credit and personal info on a huge number of the US population and controls credit access of virtually the entire country. Probably should have been more government monitoring for security which I would guess will occurs after a post-mortem of this incident.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
Since politicians' identities were compromised along with the unwashed masses, OF COURSE they are going to investigate and make it known.
Probably should have been more government monitoring for security which I would guess will occurs after a post-mortem of this incident.
Seriously, you really think governments care about folks having their data leaked? If top govt execs info was leaked, then maybe we would get something real, but right now, all we'll see is a fake investigation with, as usual, no one going to jail or paying fines.
What makes you think that politicians' identities are exempt from this breach?
It would be surprising is there WASN'T an investigation given Equifax has credit and personal info on a huge number of the US population and controls credit access of virtually the entire country.
I'm not sure that the FTC actually cares about the data that was leaked. On the other hand those allegations of insider trading due to the breach are certainly to interest to them.
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I don't think that would be unusual. After all, the NTSB is charged with investigating train wrecks.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I support the death penalty. So much, in fact, that I want to see Equifax executed - in this case, by having its corporate charter revoked. They're not "too big to fail". They're not providing a valuable product to our economy. They're not America's Last Great Hope at manufacturing or anything like that. They're a rent-seeking parasite on the economy who obviously can never again be trusty with the weaponizable data they collect on everyone who lives here. Cut off its head - sacrifice it on the altar of accountability and justice - and call it done.
And as we'd lock up a street-level criminal until their trial, Equifax should be imprisoned by having its bank accounts and stock trades frozen immediately. Sure, that means it can't pay its CEO. Yes, it means its employees will break up with it in favor of more upstanding members of society. Yeah, it means it won't be able to pay rent and will probably get evicted. If all that's good enough for Joe Accused Weed Dealer, it's good enough for Equifax Accused Stalker.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Saw this on Monster this morning:
EQUIFAX (Atlanta GA) is seeking a talented and highly motivated software engineer and security expert to manage the fallout of our recent security breach. Duties will include analyzing failures in security systems, taking the blame for prior failures, and generally being a scapegoat for the breakdown in security that lead to our infamous breach. Contract position is expected to last approximately 3-6 months, or until the end of criminal investigations, whichever is longer. Compensation includes generous exit bonus to compensate for ruining your career.
Interested candidates must have a BS or MS in Computer Science or equivalent work experience, not that it actually matters.
Equifax needs to face SEVERE punishment for negligence. Their incompetence impacts everything from personal finance, to national security. Just think what those nasty Russian's will do with the knowledge of exactly which pesky counter intelligence officer is having credit issues.
If you aren't involved in credit application activities, get a credit freeze at all three agencies now. Then they will not provide information. Make things difficult for any fraudster.
You can lift the freeze when you need to.
Caveat: It costs money, but it's currently free at Equifax (the page is sometimes cratered, however).
Good luck everyone. And kudos to LifeLock's cracker department (JK).
Tinfoil hattery:
This beach was state sponsored. Over the next few weeks, American identities will be stolen en-mass, prompting nationwide credit-freeze. Consumers lose trust in the American system of credit/debt as the fraudulently borrowed moneys and goods leave the country before the freeze. People demand companies are punished, and place blame on the money lenders and banks.
People go back to spending only what they've earned. Retail feels the pinch first. Many go under in the first months. Prices rise, as available supply of goods diminishes (no longer produced on a credit-line, volume drops)
When the money stops moving around, the financial sector of the US economy withers and dies within weeks.
The 1% panic. Crisis follows.
I imagine this is what 21st century warfare looks like.
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
One thing is for sure, from a legal standpoint Equifax and EVERY credit reporting must verify EVERY item on EVERY credit report. Why? Because that cannot prove that the data has not been tampered with for any reason. They need to prove they verified it as well. By law, they have to prove that the data about each of us is in fact true. They can not. If they are permitted to stay in business, they should wipe down to 0 for each of us. New slate. Them too. But, I think they should all be put out of business for security reasons.
The data loss and ID theft seems to have affected the FCC head honchos, too.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
based on the number of records leaked, there's a good 40% chance per top govt exec that their info WAS leaked
I would add, based on that percentage, not only is there a good chance that top government executives had their information leaked, but its most likely that information was also leaked about their spouses, adult children, parents, siblings, friends, etc. So I think many would take this personally. If you want to be cynical about it, this leak is going to create a lot of headaches for powerful entities like multinational banks, telecoms, and others who relied on Equifax to vet loans and identities and are going to have to deal with large spikes in fraud for years because of the breach. This kind of breach also helps to further undermine confidence in the banking system they are a part of. They may want this to go forward so they can take a chunk out of Equifax's hide as well. Oh, and their and their families, friends, etc. personal data has also been leaked, so they will probably have some personal motivations as well.
I'd say at best, they are in the same database and marked with some special restriction flags.
It's not simply the breach. It's that after the breach, things just kept getting worse.
- Executives sold a bunch of stock between the breach and the report.
- The first "Am I affected?" site was horribly constructed from a security point of view, not to mention not being clear about the legalese regarding liability. There were also reports that it was acting like a simple random-response generator - putting in nonsense IDs gave specific answers - with both types of results.
- The "Freeze my credit" site set up to handle the volume, and the PIN they gave was a simple time-date stamp, easily guessed.
One of these days, I plan to write to my banking institutions saying that Equifax has failed miserably at their primary job - being secure, and my institutions should not be using such a shoddy business.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
How many bankers did jail time under Obama for the financial mess?
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Insider trading is the SEC, not the FTC, right? The SEC actually scares executives and board members, unlike most regulatory bodies.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.