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Equifax data breach FAQ: What happened, who was affected, what was the impact?

Posted on October 14, 2019 by Dissent

We spent a good amount of time in the cybersecurity forum today talking about the Equifax breach.  Here’s a summary of some of their key failures, reported by Josh Fruhlinger and based on A  U.S. General Accounting Office’s report, and an in-depth analysis from Bloomberg Businessweek.  Here are just two of the findings, as reported by Fruhlinger:

  • The attackers were able to move from the web portal to other servers because the systems weren’t adequately segmented from one another, and they were able to find usernames and passwords stored in plain text that then allowed them to access still further systems.
  • The attackers pulled data out of the network in encrypted form undetected for months because Experian had crucially failed to renew an encryption certificate on one of their internal security tools.

Read more on CSO.

Related posts:

  • Equifax Reaches $1.4 Billion Data Breach Settlement in Consumer Class Action; Also Agrees to Pay $575 Million as Part of Settlement with FTC, CFPB, and States Related to 2017 Data Breach
  • Credit reporting firm Equifax says data breach could potentially affect 143 million US consumers
  • Equifax data breach aftermath: lawsuits and criticism mount, stock prices plummet (Updates)
  • Equifax’s U.K. Arm Fined Over 2017 Data Breach
Category: Business SectorCommentaries and AnalysesHackOf NoteU.S.

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