Skip to main content

Equifax could make money from its own breach; 2.4 million more are exposed

Atlanta-based Equifax disclosed in September that a “cybersecurity incident” exposed the data of approximately 143 million U.S.-based customers. Six months later, the credit-rating agency added another 2.4 million U.S.-based customers to that number as part of an ongoing analysis. But while the company appears to be apologetic and embarrassed over the hack on the outside, Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, believes the company could actually generate cash from the breach. 

How? Because it sells credit protection “devices,” or services. Even if customers swear they will never do business with Equifax again after the 2017 breach, third-party credit protection services may still use Equifax. That means the company is reeling in the big bucks from its own breach no matter where customers land. But Senator Warren and Senator Mark Warner, D-VA, want to change that. 

Recommended Videos

According to their proposal called “strict liability,” every customer gets $100 for the theft of the first piece of data, and $50 for every piece of data stolen thereafter up to half the value of the company. They believe this will push credit-rating agencies to get serious about investing in what is needed to protect Americans and their personal information. If not, we can count on another massive Equifax-style breach in the near future. 

“It’s hard. It’s flat. It’s easy to read,” she said. “And the point is to get the credit-rating agencies to take the right level of security. They take the right level of security, they invest enough in security, then the American people will be protected.” 

After a five-month investigation, Warren released a report detailing Equifax’s shortcomings regarding data protection. She details how security researchers warned of a vulnerability in the website, and how the company never confirmed that administrators actually patched the security hole. The Department of Homeland Security and external experts even warned Equifax of various vulnerabilities before the breach. Smaller break-ins took place prior to 2017. 

What’s interesting is Equifax’s fight with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). According to the report, Equifax essentially coerced the IRS into signing a new $7.2 million contract by using “federal contracting loopholes” knowing full well it had security issues. But the IRS eventually canceled the contract after discovering the additional security weaknesses that could expose the sensitive information of taxpayers. 

“We found out that Equifax failed to follow its own internal requirements for notifying consumers following the breach of sensitive data,” she said. “And we found that Equifax’s entire cybersecurity apparatus was inadequate to protect American consumers.” 

The 2017 hack exposed credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, names, birth dates, addresses, and partial driver’s license numbers. Equifax discovered the network breach on July 29 but didn’t make the data leak known until the following September. The hack took place sometime between May and July of that year. 

“We put [our investigation] together from a lot of different places and found out that Equifax, quite simply, had not told the whole story to the American people,” Warren said. “What they did was worse, a whole lot worse, than they originally admitted.” 

Kevin Parrish
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
Pocket is about to close. Use this read-it-later app instead
A woman looking at her phone.

Read-it-later app Pocket is closing down in just a week’s time, so if you’re still using it, now’s the time to switch to a similar app.

As an avid user of Pocket pretty much since it launched in 2007 as Read It Later, I felt a little sad to receive a message in May informing me that it would be shutting down on July 8.

Read more
A coding blunder just ruined a moment of joy for lottery winners
Eurojackpot lottery slips.

Imagine the joy of being notified of a huge lottery win. What would be the first thing you’d do? Get the champagne in? Book a fancy vacation? Call your boss and tell him where to go?

And then imagine being informed that the notification had, in fact, been sent in error. Well, you can always send the booze back and cancel the holiday, but trying to convince your boss that you were just joking ... well, that may be a bigger challenge.

Read more
This TP-Link Wi-Fi 6 router is 45% off in early Prime Day deal
The TP-Link AX1800 Archer AX21 Wi-FI 6 Router on a white background.

If you're planning to buy a new router to improve your home's Wi-Fi network, the good news is that you don't have to wait for Prime Day 2025 to take advantage of huge discounts on router deals from Amazon. Here's an excellent offer — the TP-Link Archer AX21 with an eye-catching 45% discount, which drops its price from $100 to just $55. The $45 in savings will only be available for a limited time though, so you better act fast and proceed with your purchase immediately as this early Prime Day deal may disappear at any moment.

Buy Now

Read more