By Eric King-
Equifax has hinted that over 400,000 britons may be prone to exploitation by hackers after private details were stolen in a massive data breach last week.
The firm’s admission that details include names, addresses and email of several hundreds of thousands have been stolen means several thousands of brits may be open to exploitation and potential fraud. Equifax had announced last week that the details of 143 million customers in the U.S were unlawfully accessed between mid May and July of this year due to an internal flaw in its system, sent shock waves in the U.S where personal information is too delicate toleak out.
America, whilst being one of the richest and most exciting places in the world, is also one of the most dangerous places to live. Access to individual’s addresses can expose people to unwanted visits and criminal targeting of all kinds by harmful and selfish individuals. Individuals can be researched by criminal gangs who can then select those they believe are worthy of targeting.
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Access to personal details like date of birth and email addresses will expose millions of Americans to potential phone or home stalking in one of the worst secirity breaches of recent times, Britons are under far less risk, but themselves face worrying risks by criminal Americans who may team up with fellow criminals in the Uk to target vulnerable and unsuspecting individuals.
Today, it announced that a process failure had caused a comproise in the information of 400,000 british people stored in the U.S between 2011 and 2016. Worst still is the possibility that the figures might even be higher than is being stated. Equifax did state that ”identity takeover” was unlikely because of the nature of the information taken, but Equifax personnel in trying to provie this assurance may be mistaken. They are not expert perpetrators of fraud, and therefore cannot definitely know how well fraudsters could use the information they have to defraud potential victims.
UK AUTHORITIES
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UK authorities including the Financial Conduct Authority and the Information Commissioner’s Office have been called in to closely assess one of the biggest data breaches on record in the UK
Equifax said it would be providing ”reassurance and protection”to anyone who had their information stolen and writing to many Brits to offer free protection service to enable them to monitor theirpersonal data, including their credit information. An incorporation of ”web and social media monitoring” to alert consumers of publicly available informatio about them which thy can monitor. The firm also promised to offer alternative services held by rival organisatios which consumers may want to use as a substitute for Equifax.
Patricio Remon, president of Equifax Ltd, said: “We apologise for this failure to protect UK consumer data.
“Our immediate focus is to support those affected by this incident and to ensure we make all of the necessary improvements and investments to strengthen our security and processes going forward.”
LOOPHOLES
Loopholes in Equifax’s data security had been criticised by an independent agency in April, a month before the grand theft occured. Why Equifax did not act speedily to address the loopholes and prevent the breach is unknown, but the failure has placed a huge dent in the reputation of Equifax.
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