Equifax Data Breach Exposes Personal Information of 143 Million

rive22 said:
Don't sweat it too much guys. Info like this is already constantly being stolen, sold, and traded, everywhere. It's a digital world and we are on the cusp. All we can do is monitor our reports & accounts and freeze when necessary, etc.
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i definately have to agree with this. no telling how much of our information is already floating around out there, its just a matter of when and how.
just gotta keep an eye on your financials.
 
Paranoid/double guessing/ probably stupid question:

If you do a credit freeze and you have a pin number that either they made or you made and you've gone through all of that. Won't those same bureaus then have said pin number on file so if God forbid any of them got breached yet again that, too, could be exposed?

Can we even trust these bureaus at all at this point?

I am considering the credit freeze option and I just want to have a realistic grasp on the pros, cons, etc.
 
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TorxT3D said:
i definately have to agree with this. no telling how much of our information is already floating around out there, its just a matter of when and how.
just gotta keep an eye on your financials.
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Sad but true. It's why Clark Howard has been advocating freezing your credit for as long as I can remember.
 
Silentbob343 said:
What in your eyes would be a reasonable response?
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Its absolutely insane the way that they're going to profit from this. They should not in any way. At a very minimum the proper response should have been:
1) 2-year id theft and credit monitoring protection from a 3rd party
2) free credit freeze from their bureau for everyone

It made me sick yesterday as I paid them to freeze my credit report with them and the only reason I was doing it was because of their fuckup.

They've got to he the only company that can profit this much off a data breach.
 
chockomonkey said:
Its absolutely insane the way that they're going to profit from this. They should not in any way. At a very minimum the proper response should have been:
1) 2-year id theft and credit monitoring protection from a 3rd party
2) free credit freeze from their bureau for everyone

It made me sick yesterday as I paid them to freeze my credit report with them and the only reason I was doing it was because of their fuckup.

They've got to he the only company that can profit this much off a data breach.
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The stock took a substantial hit, they are facing huge class action lawsuits, and I'm sure there will be massive fines once all this is over. Not to mention the potential lose of business with the banks.

Not sure profit is being made, this a bag of hurt for all involved.

I don't disagree about the free freeze.
 
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oROEchimaru said:
Any non-equifax 3rd party credible credit check/fraud/protection services we should be enrolling in now?
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I've been using Transunion's since 2013:

"As soon as we receive a lender request for your TransUnion credit report, we email you an Instant Alert. If it was you applying for credit, the Instant Alert provides immediate confirmation and peace of mind. If it was someone else – like an identity thief applying for credit in your name – the Instant Alert informs you immediately, so you can respond quickly when every second matters"​

I initially started it because I wanted to monitor my own credit and make sure it was squeaky clean since I was planning to buy a house soon after which I didn't do until 2016, but since then I've kept the service, since it notifies me right away. There is a fee to pay each month.

Also you should be setting up SMS Alerts and emails on all your financial/bank/credit card accounts anyway.
 
each state has a different fee schedule for freezing.

In california, I have to wait until my identity is stolen before they will give me free credit freeze.
Otherwise I have to pay $10 for Equifax's fuck up
 
Sure are a lot of things going on these days: Equifax info breach, back to back major hurricanes,three US Destroyers dry docked due to ramming, North Korea keeps threatening nuclear war, so-called holy wars across the globe, now a shortage of mem chips and all of this in the wake of a mining craze. Can't say it's been boring ...
 
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I had to check it twice, because I couldn´t believe it in any way could be true. It would be so illegal here that its unimaginable.

So the customers at Equifax are not endusers, its banks, employers, realestate companies and so on. And no enduser is giving them any information directly.

They collect everything on you, tax information, medical bills and what not. And it decides if you not only get a loan, but also if you get a job. And it all depends on information they collect, if there is no information as in you never borrow money for example you get a lower score due to that.

Why you people accept this...I dont know :eek:
 
You know, it would be awfully nice if the guy who posted that link to the fucking site could edit his post on the first page saying it might not be a good idea to sign up so no one else signs up for that crap before reading the entire thread. Just a thought...
 
mullet said:
Naaa they will be working on the Hillary 2020 campaign.
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Yes because no one in the financial world responsible for any wrong doing ever works for Republicans. Oh wait how many former Goldman Sachs alumni are working for the present administration? How many times has that organization been fined? https://www.google.com/search?q=goldman+sachs+fined...

Just to be clear --> I say the above not to defend that worthless whore but to point out the hypocrisy of saying one side of the two headed hydra is above the other.

Also somehow I missed this:

CFPB Orders TransUnion and Equifax to Pay for Deceiving Consumers in Marketing Credit Scores and Credit Products
Credit Reporting Companies Misstated the Cost and Usefulness of the Credit Scores and Products They Sold, Lured Consumers into Costly Recurring Payments

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/abo...-marketing-credit-scores-and-credit-products/
 
pmrdij said:
Just to be clear --> I say the above not to defend that worthless whore but to point out the hypocrisy of saying one side of the two headed hydra is above the other.
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I'm afraid that's too complex a concept for many people to grasp.
 
Shintai said:
Like data protection laws and agency?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_Data_Protection_Agency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Directive
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation

We only had it for over 20 years now.
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That's great. However, this shit has been instituted for so long here, that undoing it all is the trick. Coming up with a better way is the easy part. Changing untold decades of history for a large country is something else entirely. There are also plenty of people who actually benefit from this way of doing things, so then you have to somehow combat that in a way that also pacifies them.

The people that a system like this benefits, I'd wager are wealthier people with more (at least perceived) power.

Of course now, the information of the wealthy is also floating around out there, so I guess it's a slightly more level playing field with this sort of breach happening. Personally, I have a medium credit rating, was able to get a mortgage, pay things on time, but nothing amazing. I think there's more potential for damage in the mid-range to deal with. Someone with a dirt-low score probably won't care that much unless they're trying hard to bring it up. People with a high score can probably take a hit while they sort out the problem.

Anyway, I agree with you. The system is asinine, but it's not as simple as saying "Hey, look how that country does it. Let's switch!"
 
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ok, here's the scoop based on all the info available online that I read the past few days:

- for many people money rules, not the law nor good morals.
- Having the Equifax website tell you you weren't effected at their website is like Comey telling Congress Hillary is innocent regarding her email server and lost emails
- Be smart, pay the $10 fees to freeze your accounts on the Big Three and switch to using just cash. If you can't do this then the System has you by the gonads
- No one, absolutely no one, will ever convince me that a company like Equifax can make me responsible for their inability to keep my ID info safe online. They lost it (had it stolen) so why would you and me be responsible for ID theft? It's the same lie as when banks tried to make people think if their credit card number was taken the card holder was responsible.
- America is very way overdue for a new, much more secure monetary system to usher in the One World Government

Did I forget or miss anything?

J3RK said:
Of course now, the information of the wealthy is also floating around out there
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If their ID info is floating around, it won't matter for long. IMO they already have a new financial ID, SS# and everything tied to the old info is switched to the new. Amazing what people will do for you and how quickly, when you're wealthy. They can afford to lock everything down immediately and switch to cash only until all is well for them again
 
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J3RK said:
That's great. However, this shit has been instituted for so long here, that undoing it all is the trick. Coming up with a better way is the easy part. Changing untold decades of history for a large country is something else entirely. There are also plenty of people who actually benefit from this way of doing things, so then you have to somehow combat that in a way that also pacifies them.

The people that a system like this benefits, I'd wager are wealthier people with more (at least perceived) power.

Of course now, the information of the wealthy is also floating around out there, so I guess it's a slightly more level playing field with this sort of breach happening. Personally, I have a medium credit rating, was able to get a mortgage, pay things on time, but nothing amazing. I think there's more potential for damage in the mid-range to deal with. Someone with a dirt-low score probably won't care that much unless they're trying hard to bring it up. People with a high score can probably take a hit while they sort out the problem.

Anyway, I agree with you. The system is asinine, but it's not as simple as saying "Hey, look how that country does it. Let's switch!"
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You mean lenders in the US are actually unable to judge people on their own based on their income and expenses? ;)

Considering its a move from a complex dysfunctional system to a relatively simple one shouldn´t take long if people wanted.
 
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Shintai said:
You mean lenders in the US are actually unable to judge people on their own based on their income and expenses? ;)

Considering its a move from a complex dysfunctional system to a relatively simple one shouldn´t take long if people wanted.
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It's not whether or not they CAN. It's whether or not they WANT TO.
 
Q-BZ said:
Paranoid/double guessing/ probably stupid question:

If you do a credit freeze and you have a pin number that either they made or you made and you've gone through all of that. Won't those same bureaus then have said pin number on file so if God forbid any of them got breached yet again that, too, could be exposed?

Can we even trust these bureaus at all at this point?

I am considering the credit freeze option and I just want to have a realistic grasp on the pros, cons, etc.
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You would hope its stored as a hash.
 
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So now the news is that the hackers exploited a flaw in the software that had been patched months before the attack, but Equifax had not implemented the update. You would think that a firm that is entrusted to keep data secure would be on top of security patches for its software! If there was anything that might spark class action lawsuit, this could be it.
 
jardows said:
So now the news is that the hackers exploited a flaw in the software that had been patched months before the attack, but Equifax had not implemented the update. You would think that a firm that is entrusted to keep data secure would be on top of security patches for its software! If there was anything that might spark class action lawsuit, this could be it.
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Truth is everyone on your team has to be alert to security updates. I try to read about them whenever I can and forward them to our department. I even warn our building operations manager about security vulnerabilities with wireless RFID readers. But at the end of the day, it's up to everyone to check their product line complies with the newest fixes. It only takes one weak link unfortunately.
 
I for one have always hated Struts with a passion. I don't know how many larg4e enterprises are using that crap for their mission critical web systems. As a retired software developer (sorry I can't say for whom and in what capacity) struts has always been a support nightmare when it came to debugging the underlying platform code. I am not really surprised to see holes like this slip into it and surprised it took so long for folks to exploit it. The only reason it is popular is because it is an open source MVC framework for creating web systems. There are far better solutions available - but you have to pay for them. I would expect a major enterprise like Equifax to pony up the required cash and build their software using a framework that every cracxker and his grandma doesn't have the source code to.
 
Shintai said:
You mean lenders in the US are actually unable to judge people on their own based on their income and expenses? ;)

Considering its a move from a complex dysfunctional system to a relatively simple one shouldn´t take long if people wanted.
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The problem for lenders is that very very few people coming in for a loan are honest and forthcoming about their credit history. Guys like Equifax make it their business to have details and in-depth debt history for each person looking for a loan that can't be influenced by the debtor themselves. The bits of information you have been told about is just the tip of the data iceberg they access on each person. That in itself is a really big wake up[ call for anyone - not just those that deal directly with equifax. Chances are that if you have never directly dealt with them, a bank or other lender you have dealt with has on your behalf using your SSN as authorization.
 
Right now the sites are so overloaded it's near impossible to freeze a file.
 
jardows said:
So now the news is that the hackers exploited a flaw in the software that had been patched months before the attack, but Equifax had not implemented the update. You would think that a firm that is entrusted to keep data secure would be on top of security patches for its software! If there was anything that might spark class action lawsuit, this could be it.
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So, same as many breaches? Nothing new. Remember the "hacked by Chinese" IIS exploit, 1-13 years go? That was a hole that had been patched at least 6 months prior to the attack. I watched my logs showing the attempts and it failing because my server was always up to date. Same thing with one of the SQL exploits from around the same time. Patch that blocked that exploit was also months old before it hit.
It is disgusting that people managing sensitive data like this have such incompetent IT policies that fail to keep critical systems up to date. It's bad enough when a mom & pop that doesn;t even have an IT staff fails to patch, but a big company like this? It si things like this that keep the firm I work for always busy.
 
jardows said:
So now the news is that the hackers exploited a flaw in the software that had been patched months before the attack, but Equifax had not implemented the update. You would think that a firm that is entrusted to keep data secure would be on top of security patches for its software! If there was anything that might spark class action lawsuit, this could be it.
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To busy counting all the money they were making?

Was Equifax not having a webpage up where if you checked your data status you would have to agree to for go any class action lawsuit against them before you could see the result :).
Good luck getting needed regulation changes under this government ;) .
 
jardows said:
So now the news is that the hackers exploited a flaw in the software that had been patched months before the attack, but Equifax had not implemented the update. You would think that a firm that is entrusted to keep data secure would be on top of security patches for its software! If there was anything that might spark class action lawsuit, this could be it.
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You would be very surprised at what managers make decisions about that have no clue how bad of a decision they are making to save a few thousand dollars. The other problem is IT folks run the gamut from "I am super vigilant about updating software security" to "meh". I could tell some stories that few would believe, while being actually true at how dumb people can be in taking risks.
 
triwolf said:
I could tell some stories that few would believe, while being actually true at how dumb people can be in taking risks.
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There's a reason why the masses are called the walking dead ... the blind leading the blind into a pit
 
I think it's pretty well accepted that psychologically, humans are bad at assessing future negative risks (We won't get hacked!) and overestimate their odds of positive risks (Gonna win the Powerball!).

Gives a lot of folks here, myself included, jobs I would imagine, although it also gives the same folks a lot of heartburn and drinking problems...
 
I blame this fiasco on the Chief Information Security Officer, Susan Mauldin. Her qualifications? Masters degree in MUSICAL COMPOSITION. Was she hired because a diversity or gender quota?
 
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