Equifax was hacked .... 143 million records exposed

[Reisen]

Be careful what you wish for...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/...ite/688188001/

Mind-blowingly stupid. The vanity URL alone was borderline negligence. Whoever approved that should be fired immediately.

[Jeffrey]

Mind-blowingly stupid. The vanity URL alone was borderline negligence. Whoever approved that should be fired immediately.

Agreed. Equifax's problems have problems!

IMO, they need to clean house starting at the top.

[JasonEvans]

I signed up for TrustedID for me, my wife, and my mother-in-law. Each time Equifax could only say we "may have had our records breached," without providing any kind of definitive answer. It took a couple days to sign up and then a couple more to get the verification links, but we have gotten them. Still, I'm pretty sure I don't feel at all protected as a result.

Each time I got the verification link, it directed me to a site where Equifax claimed they were confirming my identity by looking at my credit history. Ok, sounds fine. But, each time they provided me with a series of multiple choice questions (have you ever had a mortgage through any of the following companies? Did you lease a car from any of the following lenders?) and each time the answer to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE QUESTIONS was none of the above. It reached the point where I didn't even bother to read the questions the third time I was signing someone up -- I just knew all the questions would produce a "none of the above" response. How crazy is that? We are talking 12-out-12 questions with the exact same answer. Anyone who wanted to pretend to be me could have guessed pretty easily at the answers. I mean, why couldn't Equifax just throw in one question each time where you actually had to know something about my credit history to answer?

Everything about the way Equifax has handled this debacle feels like the least responsible and smart way to do things. I almost think they are daring the government to come shut them down.

-Jason "so awful... and if they were just honest and smart they could have handled this with relative ease" Evans

[snowdenscold]

I signed up for TrustedID for me, my wife, and my mother-in-law. Each time Equifax could only say we "may have had our records breached," without providing any kind of definitive answer. It took a couple days to sign up and then a couple more to get the verification links, but we have gotten them. Still, I'm pretty sure I don't feel at all protected as a result.

Each time I got the verification link, it directed me to a site where Equifax claimed they were confirming my identity by looking at my credit history. Ok, sounds fine. But, each time they provided me with a series of multiple choice questions (have you ever had a mortgage through any of the following companies? Did you lease a car from any of the following lenders?) and each time the answer to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE QUESTIONS was none of the above. It reached the point where I didn't even bother to read the questions the third time I was signing someone up -- I just knew all the questions would produce a "none of the above" response. How crazy is that? We are talking 12-out-12 questions with the exact same answer. Anyone who wanted to pretend to be me could have guessed pretty easily at the answers. I mean, why couldn't Equifax just throw in one question each time where you actually had to know something about my credit history to answer?

Everything about the way Equifax has handled this debacle feels like the least responsible and smart way to do things. I almost think they are daring the government to come shut them down.

-Jason "so awful... and if they were just honest and smart they could have handled this with relative ease" Evans

That is a bit odd - whenever I've done those "prove your identity" questions based on what they can pull from credit history, usually just 1 or 2 out of 4 might be "none of the above". NOTA has certainly been an answer every time, but never all of the answers for that instance.

[Jeffrey]

I almost think they are daring the government to come shut them down.

Trust me, the U.S. Government will do everything possible not to shut them down. Equifax knows it will not happen. The U.S. Government refused to even regulate credit bureaus until 2012!

Watch, the U.S. Government/CFPB will ultimately fine Equifax less than $4 (probably $2) for each affected U.S. citizen! Your good ole' government, hardly at work, starting in 2012.

Like I told you, what I said, steal your face right off your head!

[budwom]

Vermont and some other states working on legislation to ban credit agencies from charging $ for putting freezes on accounts. Why should we pay for their incompetence?

[Jeffrey]

Why should we pay for their incompetence?

How else can Equifax's CEO make $12 million a year? He's not capable of playing in the NBA.

[snowdenscold]

Now I'm confused. After signing up for their monitoring or whatever it was several days ago, I just now got an email saying I need to take the final steps in enrollment by verifying my identity.

So after going to yet a 3rd URL (trustedidpremier.com - which appears to be legit) to verify and activate, they texted me a passcode, and upon entering it, the site said my identity couldn't be verified, so they would need to ask me more questions.

But then the next page said I had already been enrolled, so there was no further action needed on my part.

Wheeee...

[Rich]

I'm tired of all this. I went to all three credit bureaus and froze my credit. As far as I've read, that may be the only solution other than continuously tracking credit requests as they come in and making sure they're legitimate. I'm not looking forward to having to (and I'm not even sure of the process to) thaw them next time I'm looking to open a bank account or get a new credit card, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Whoever had September 26 in the Equifax CEO resignation pool is the big winner:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/b...=top-news&_r=0

Now the question is how much of his pay can be clawed back.

[Jeffrey]

Whoever had September 26 in the Equifax CEO resignation pool is the big winner:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/b...=top-news&_r=0

Now the question is how much of his pay can be clawed back.

No worries, he will qualify for unemployment. Forced resignation = termination.

OTOH, I doubt this will result in material clawbacks. Of course, I'm assuming he negotiated an employment contract in his best interest. It's not that hard to accomplish with most Boards these days.

[dudog84]

Equifax admits more were affected by hack:

https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer...in-data-breach

Don’t know where they are getting these numbers, because to be clear, virtually every adult in this country will have been exposed. Unless you’ve been indigent your entire life, you have an Equifax record.

And while freezing your credit might give you the warm fuzzies, it really doesn’t do much. If a credit card is opened fraudulently in your name, and you let them know as soon as you become aware of it, you have zero liability. Diligence. And I was pretty sure that many banks don’t do a credit check when opening an account, which I confirmed with my local banker last week. She said some banks even allow you to open an account online.

But most importantly, freezing your credit does not protect you from someone filing a tax return or getting a job in your name/SSN:

https://www.today.com/money/identity...und-2D11910916

It doesn’t protect you from medical identity theft:

https://www.consumerreports.org/medi...dentity-theft/

It doesn’t protect your children:

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/1...?referrer&_r=0

It doesn’t protect you from someone getting a driver’s license in your name and impersonating you while they do who knows what, etc. etc.

[Jeffrey]

Finally...

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/14/form...ta-breach.html

[moonpie23]

it won't matter unless he does some time....

[Jeffrey]

it won't matter unless he does some time...

It's good for the economy. His lawyer's wife just went on a major shopping spree.

[dudog84]

it won't matter unless he does some time...

...his name's not Martha...

From the article:

"Ying is not one of the Equifax executives who attracted attention for disclosing they had sold $1.8 million of stock just days after the company discovered security issues and weeks before it announced the intrustion.

In November, a special committee of Equifax's board found that the sales, by four executives, were not improper and that none of them knew about the security breach at the time of the sales."

Yeah right.

[Jeffrey]

Add another one to the list....

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/28/form...der-tradi.html

[YmoBeThere]

Probably straying* into PPB territory, but interesting that Ying and Bonthu have been charged, Gamble, Loughran, Ploder have not been so far.

*Okay maybe leaping into it?

[HereBeforeCoachK]

I fully understand the need to have credit underwriting, but the dependence on the three major credit reporting agencies is absurd. The rules of the scoring are convoluted, sometimes flat out stupid, and they do make mistakes. They had four errors equalling up to 96 points worth of mistakes on my score...took me a few months to unravel it. As I'm sure everybody here knows, something close to 100 point change is huge on a credit score.

It's so hilarious that they couldn't even keep their info secure. Or our info that is. I find them incompetent, and this kind of proves it.

[Indoor66]

I fully understand the need to have credit underwriting, but the dependence on the three major credit reporting agencies is absurd. The rules of the scoring are convoluted, sometimes flat out stupid, and they do make mistakes. They had four errors equalling up to 96 points worth of mistakes on my score...took me a few months to unravel it. As I'm sure everybody here knows, something close to 100 point change is huge on a credit score.

It's so hilarious that they couldn't even keep their info secure. Or our info that is. I find them incompetent, and this kind of proves it.

What alternative method of credit evaluation do you suggest? They serve a necessary information source in dealing with matters that require relevant information. The law provides each of us access to each of the three reports on an annual basis. I check mine and have had no difficulty correcting errors.