In September 2017, US-based credit reporting firm Equifax revealed that its site had suffered a breach, and 143 million citizens’ records were stolen in the attack – names, addresses, social security numbers, and all. The breach, as we subsequently learned, could easily have been avoided.
The company hasn’t yet had to face dire consequences – but yesterday, the company’s recently appointed CEO, Mark Begor (who replaced former CEO Richard F. Smith after he left the company with a $15 million severance package) was expertly grilled by Representative Katie Porter (D-CA) in a congressional hearing.
The brief clip is worth a watch to the end: Porter asked Begor if he’d be willing to publicly share his personal information, including his SSN, at the hearing. Porter’s follow-up to his response represents exactly how we should question tech companies that fail to protect our data and our privacy. Watch and learn, folks.
Errata: We previously wrote that Equifax’ former CEO is Robert Smith, when it’s in fact Richard F. Smith. We regret the error and have now corrected it.
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