Re: Right now on the Equifax site
Not only did execs at Equifax sell stock, someone has bought a few hundred thousand $ worth of put options before the public announcement that are now worth millions.
Credit reference agency Equifax has been criticised for its breach response in the wake of the disclosure on Thursday of a megahack that affected the data of up to 143 million people in the US alone. The credit reference agency admitted that criminals may have been able to access data including names, social security numbers, …
Well considering one was the CFO and one was the 'president of U.S. information solutions' the idea that neither of them knew of a significant data breach days after it happened is farcical.
Isn't that the very essence of insider dealing? I was under the impression that this was illegal and should result in long jail sentences.
There is also the issue of criminal irresponsibility - these clowns have no idea about data security (it's not the first time they've been compromised) and they should be shut down and jailed. The other "credit checking" agencies also need thorough investigation, and if there's the slightest possibility that they could be compromised, they also need to be shut down - and prosecuted for negligence - and the whole rotten industry should cease. Banks and other financial institutions should revert to doing their own checking of customers - just like they used to.
That's another thing the execs have to fear - derivative claims from shareholders. And you don't even need fraud to jail them. With the data protection laws changing, this will have peculiar effects on the "business record" admissibility rules of criminal evidence in each jurisdiction. Interestingly, as Google execs found out the hard way a few years ago, most EU nations award custodial sentences (generally five years or less, though Greece has up to 10) for criminal data protection offenders (i.e. controllers), and breaches undoubtedly will engage those criminal laws.
The Java Servlet blew up:
500 Servlet Exception
[show] java.lang.IllegalStateException: Can't sendRedirect() after data has committed to the client.
java.lang.NullPointerException at com.truelink.app.consumerCredit.site.fa.tags.dfpAd.DFPAdTag.doStartTag(DFPAdTag.java:24) at _jsp._copy._fa._fraudAlert._addInitialAlertConfirm_0en__jsp._jspService(copy/fa/fraudAlert/addInitialAlertConfirm_en.jsp:147) at _jsp._copy._fa._fraudAlert._addInitialAlertConfirm_0en__jsp._jspService(_addInitialAlertConfirm_0en__jsp.java:30) at com.caucho.jsp.JavaPage.service(JavaPage.java:64) at com.caucho.jsp.Page.pageservice(Page.java:548) at com.caucho.server.dispatch.PageFilterChain.doFilter(PageFilterChain.java:194) at com.caucho.server.httpcache.ProxyCacheFilterChain.doRequestCacheable(ProxyCacheFilterChain.java:252) at com.caucho.server.httpcache.ProxyCacheFilterChain.doFilter(ProxyCacheFilterChain.java:193) at com.caucho.server.webapp.DispatchFilterChain.doFilter(DispatchFilterChain.java:131) at com.caucho.server.dispatch.ServletInvocation.service(ServletInvocation.java:290)
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Awesomeness.
What isn't covered in this article is the action taken by high level executives of Equifax between the time the breach was discovered and when it was disclosed.
At least 3 high level executives sold large amounts of Equifax stock, probably in violation of US Securities Law.
This whole situation stinks on ice.
The banking, insurance and credit industries are dependent on credit reference checks as part of their risk processes. Compliance to risk processes is a regulatory necessity, so they have to go to companies like Equifax for such checks.
So, if for example, I apply for interest-free credit on a TV, a new card, a loan, a mortgage or an insurance policy, it's a certainty that my details are checked with a reference agency, who, by the nature of their business, will keep records.
If that agency, is foolish enough to lose those records, the companies who gave them their customers' details, should have at least a duty of care to those customers (and prospective customers) to check whether their details are amongst those that Equifax so generously shared with god-knows-whom are those of their customers (or prospective customers).
So (all the banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies, mail-order companies, utilities etc ...) should be in the process of working out who's details have been shared with Equifax, and whether they are amongst the hundred-plus million.
Holding breath. May go blue.