Equifax hack

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mdav056

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#223025 9-Sep-2017 07:13

Equifax (USA) just reported a huge hack, and that company owns Veda Advantage in NZ -- in fact they report that "3.1 million credit active individuals are on the Equifax NZ Bureau" -- that's most of us.

But I cannot see any way of checking on the NZ website whether data have been lost, and checking on the US website requires US Social Security numbers.

Does anyone know whether we are vulnerable? How to check? Anything?

gml

tardtasticx

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#1861225 9-Sep-2017 11:11

I very much doubt it would be impacting the NZ side. They've basically just purchased Veda and rebranded it. Some of the tools I use at work that are on the Equifax NZ site still have Veda branding all over it still.

mdav056

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#1861353 9-Sep-2017 16:02

tardtasticx:

I very much doubt it would be impacting the NZ side. They've basically just purchased Veda and rebranded it. Some of the tools I use at work that are on the Equifax NZ site still have Veda branding all over it still.

I hope you are right. Hard to know whether to believe them, as "Equifax discovered the cyberattack on 29 July but took five weeks to announce it to the public, on Thursday 7 September" (Guardian), and the company is being very unclear as to whether Canadian and UK data have been hacked. And they are trying to avoid any class actions by getting people to sign away their rights.

It all seems very squirmy to me.

gml

Ford

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#1861624 10-Sep-2017 02:32

Equifax has had class action lawsuits against them in the past for violating privacy.

The NZ credit reporting markets, like the debt collection markets are unregulated.

A lot of international organisations are setting up shop to take advantage of our lack of laws.

They generally do that via the Australian corporations and setup subsidiarys and holding companies in NZ.

If Equifax are anything like Veda, they can and do manipulate credit reports to alter credit scores.

As a NZ citizen I'm embarrased to say that type of conduct is allowed in NZ

There is simply nothing we can do, aside from not entering into contracts that use credit reporting.

Data selling is a tremendously profitable business.

gzt

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#1861960 10-Sep-2017 20:39

Ford: Data selling is a tremendously profitable business.

Apparently their impact assessment site does not work properly and gives different results every time, requires a sign up for a product and requires the user to agree not to join a class action in the t&c, some browsers report it a phishing site.

Fred99

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#1866399 14-Sep-2017 17:38

How to hack Equifax:

Password: admin

That's for the Argentina office, apparently

Sideface

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#1877486 4-Oct-2017 21:28

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michaelmurfy

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#2046142 29-Jun-2018 18:02

And... Justice is served to an ex manager:

Former Equifax Manager Charged With Insider Trading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2018-115

Washington D.C., June 28, 2018 —
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a former Equifax manager with insider trading in advance of the company’s September 2017 announcement of a massive data breach that exposed Social Security numbers and other personal information of approximately 148 million U.S. customers. This is the second case the SEC has filed arising from the Equifax data breach. In March, the former chief information officer of Equifax’s U.S. business unit was charged with insider trading.

In a complaint filed in federal court in Atlanta today, the SEC charged that Equifax software engineering manager Sudhakar Reddy Bonthu traded on confidential information he received while creating a website for consumers impacted by a data breach.

According to the complaint, Bonthu was told the work was being done for an unnamed potential client, but based on information he received, he concluded that Equifax itself was the victim of the breach. The SEC alleges that Bonthu violated company policy when he traded on the non-public information by purchasing Equifax put options. Less than a week later, after Equifax publicly announced the data breach and its stock declined nearly 14 percent, Bonthu sold the put options and netted more than $75,000, a return of more than 3,500 percent on his initial investment.

Bonthu, 44, was terminated from Equifax in March after refusing to cooperate with an internal investigation into whether he had violated the company’s insider trading policy.

“As we allege, Bonthu, who was entrusted with confidential information by his employer, misused that information to conclude that his company had suffered a massive data breach and then sought to illegally profit,” said Richard R. Best, Director of the SEC’s Atlanta Regional Office. “Corporate insiders simply cannot abuse their access to sensitive information and illegally enrich themselves.”

In a parallel proceeding, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia filed criminal charges against Bonthu.

To settle the SEC’s civil charges, Bonthu has agreed to a permanent injunction and to return his allegedly ill-gotten gains plus interest. The settlement is subject to court approval.

The SEC’s investigation, which is continuing, has been conducted by Elizabeth Skola and Justin Jeffries. The litigation is being led by Shawn Murnahan and Graham Loomis. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Source: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-115

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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Behodar

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#2046144 29-Jun-2018 18:13

Not to downplay it or anything, but nowhere in that release does it say it was the ex-CEO, just "a former software engineering manager".

michaelmurfy

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#2046146 29-Jun-2018 18:17

Behodar:

Not to downplay it or anything, but nowhere in that release does it say it was the ex-CEO, just "a former software engineering manager".

Ah yes - my mistake here. I knew it was the ex CEO + some other parties involved.

freitasm

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#2046222 29-Jun-2018 20:47

Also, for the record, Veda is now Equifax NZ.

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