Equifax Slapped With 500k Fine

AlphaAtlas

[H]ard|Gawd
Staff member
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Messages
1,713
The UK branch of Equifax was fined 500,000 pounds by the Information Commissioner's Office for failing to protect the personal info of around 15 million UK customers. If that fine seems rather modest, that's because it is. 500,000 pounds is the largest fine regulators can give under the Data Protection Act 1998, whereas Equifax would've faced up to 17.8 million pounds in fines under GDPR, which went into effect in May 2018.

Many of the people affected would not have been aware the company held their data; learning about the cyber attack would have been unexpected and is likely to have caused particular distress,' Commissioner Denham continues. 'Multinational data companies like Equifax must understand what personal data they hold and take robust steps to protect it. Their boards need to ensure that internal controls and systems work effectively to meet legal requirements and customers’ expectations. Equifax Ltd showed a serious disregard for their customers and the personal information entrusted to them, and that led to today’s fine.'
 
Is that all? They must have a strong connection up the chain. That was just a "token" fine to please the people.
 
What is that like 10 minutes of transactions for them to make that money up?
 
The UK government has a disturbingly small cap on fines issued to negligent business practices like this, but they quickly create a law to circumvent a court ruling stating that their info collection against their own citizens (thanks to Snowden's whistleblowing) was against the law, thus negating that ruling so they can continue on with the data collection? How fucked is the UK? With all the news about their exploits and bullshit, I'm sitting here thinking "when the hell are the citizens going to rise up and have their own Revolutionary War?"
 
'Multinational data companies like Equifax must understand what personal data they hold and take robust steps to protect it.

What a strong message. Too bad the fine is pretty much a slap on the wrist, might have helped to believe that if the fine was more consequential.

That 17.8M would have made a much better case for the importance of personal data and I'm not even sure if it would have been enough.
 
That 17.8M would have made a much better case for the importance of personal data and I'm not even sure if it would have been enough.

At that rate, they're paying 1.19 pound per user. Hell even less if we factor in interest.

They might as well be selling that information on the black market. Or handing it off to "unaffiliated" companies that specialize in financial extraction.
 
I read about the limit but the fine is a joke. Easily paid out of petty cash. Probably less then the CEO's yearly expense account. And with the UK leaving the EU, will the GDPR even apply to the UK branch going forward?
 
Wow, this is less than a slap on the wrist, its a stern talking to without yelling.... queue Elizabeth Warren type rant.
What a joke.......and yet the US hasn't even tried to fine them yet.
 
The cost of doing business, not even a fine. Keep on doing what you're doing, get caught a decade from now, pay fine, still profit.
 
That "cost of doing business" mentally should be stamped upon and currently the "cost" is too low. Perhaps holding some higher ups personally responsible, including prison time, will make the cost too high for them, and they clean up their act.

Seeing where a lot of these lawmakers come from, or go when they move on, or who signs their campaign contribution checks - not going to happen. It's organized crime... Of course it does fit under the "I will make it legal" part of government.

This is the UK, and I suspect it's very similar to the US. These people are looking out for their own ass and if they went after the large companies, their career as a politician and after government work would be over.
 
This is a good start, and now that the law has been updated to allow much bigger fines, this should send a message to the business community (at least in the UK) that they must protect their user's data or face the prospect of stiff fines.
 
Is that all? They must have a strong connection up the chain. That was just a "token" fine to please the people.

Certain it's public record to some degree to see how much Equifax's lobbyists and elected donors were paid to let this shit happen, and then simply refuse to enforce any kind of actual punishment.

But we'll probably never really know 100%.

Short answer : follow the money.
 
Pathetic. These companies need to be financially nuked, honestly.

Declare these corps as individual people, as they've so been wanting.

Then declare them as enemy combatants/terrorists. Drone strike the living fuck out of them, since people apparently think that's fine in this day and age.

Oh, don't worry. that'll never happen, of course.
 
Back
Top