Posted on 02/10/2020 7:48:07 AM PST by karpov
Four members of China’s military have been indicted by the U.S. government on charges of hacking into the credit-reporting agency Equifax Inc. and plundering sensitive data on nearly 150 million Americans, the Justice Department said.
A federal grand jury in Atlanta returned a nine-count indictment last week that accused members of China’s People’s Liberation Army of conspiring to steal reams of data as part of a sophisticated hacking operation that exploited a major vulnerability in the software used by Equifax’s online dispute portal.
“This was a deliberate and sweeping intrusion into the private information of the American people,” Attorney General William Barr said.
The breach into Equifax, disclosed in 2017, compromised data belonging to about 145 million Americans and has been viewed as one of the largest hacks on record. It prompted prolonged public outrage and led to a series of hearings in Congress that led to the resignation of the company’s former chief executive, Richard Smith.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Why did a credit reporting agency put such sensitive stuff on the Internet to be stolen?
They choose to not patch.
How better to identify key people who might be for sale.
Sounds like the Chinese want to enter the American auto loan business.
Do I have any say on whether Equifax (or any other credit data company) has access to my data?
They try to limit the exposure to a specific amount of Americans. Here’s the reality... it affects every American with a credit score.
What type of information was breached? Have you ever tried to prove your identity through a bank or financial institution? What questions did they ask? What was your first car?... Is this one of your old addresses?... Who was your first grade teacher?... What is your mother’s maiden name?... et al. They got it all.
Want to change your password? They can call in and change it back with this information.
This is why you see more questions about subjective matters that aren’t part of public records... What is your favorite car?... Where did you meet your wife?... et al.
Note that the information stolen in the Equifax breach isn’t going away. It will always be your past. Be vigilant because it will still be relevant to you decades from now. I recommend ID theft protection. You will be compromised eventually... might as well have help picking up the pieces afterward.
...
Meanwhile, the Dems and their media are looking for Russians under rocks While China is getting away with murder.
bttt
bump
How is EQUIFAX not liable for the outcome of this data loss?
The US law needs changed... BIG TIME....
Its insane that 145 Million americans will, for the rest of their lives have to worry about being damaged by this, but they have ZERO ability to hold Equifax responsible for it.
“How is EQUIFAX not liable for the outcome of this data loss?”
They are but you’ll get crumbs after the attorneys take their $$Millions.
This breach should have been the end of Equifax. Oh by the way their Chief Security Officer was a music major.
No they aren’t...
They have ZERO criminal responsibility for any of this... Civilly you may have a case, but they have ZERO criminal responsibility for mishandling your data... NONE.
Correction: this should be the end of all of the credit “bureaus”. fixed it
An indictment on a foreign entity.Thats going nowhere.The only way to get some compensation is to increase tariffs on Chinese Products.Something I doubt President Trump is going to do now.
“No they aren’t...
They have ZERO criminal responsibility for any of this... Civilly you may have a case, but they have ZERO criminal responsibility for mishandling your data... NONE.”
Well, you didn’t specify “criminal responsibility”. Good idea though - i would love to see some Eqifax personnel go to prison over this.
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