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IRS Suspends $7 Million Contract With Equifax After Malware Discovered (cbsnews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the series-of-unfortunate-events dept.

After malware was discovered on Equifax's website again, the IRS decided late Thursday that it would temporarily suspend the agency's $7.1 million data security contract with the company. CBS News reports: In September, Equifax revealed that it had exposed 143 million consumer files -- containing names, addresses, Social Security numbers and even bank account information -- to hackers in an unprecedented security lapse. The number of consumer potentially affect by the data breach was later raised to 145.5 million. The company's former CEO blamed a single careless employee for the entire snafu. But even as he was getting grilled in Congress earlier this month, the IRS was awarding the company with a no-bid contract to provide "fraud prevention and taxpayer identification services." "Following new information available today, the IRS temporarily suspended its short-term contract with Equifax for identity proofing services," the agency said in a statement. "During this suspension, the IRS will continue its review of Equifax systems and security." The agency does not believe that any data the IRS has shared with Equifax to date has been compromised, but the suspension was taken as "a precautionary step."

3 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. EquiFax Unresponsive by pubwvj · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Equifax.com's server gives an error 500 when I try and contact them through their website. Is this them blocking people or simply more incompetence on their part?

  2. Re:$7.1 million is a rounding error for Equifax by mhkohne · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yea, $7.1 mil IS small for them. Which means that contract wasn't about that contract, but rather about getting a foot in the door for more work in the future. So while the loss of that contract is almost irrelevant, the near-future potential that goes with it is probably quite a bit more.

    --
    A thousand pounds of wood moving at 300 feet per minute. Don't get in the way.
  3. Re:$7.1 million is a rounding error for Equifax by ninjaz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's certainly possible, but after the emails that came out showing that they made a special effort to run off anyone who was competent and conscientious, it's more plausible that they actually just suck that much.

    It is hard to imagine them being able to instantly become competent after so much effort was put into warding off competence.