Equifax CEO ‘retires’ following enormous data breach

Equifax announced today that CEO Richard Smith retired this morning after a catastrophic data breach. It is estimated that 143 million Americans’ most sensitive information has been stolen from the company’s servers by hackers.

The Mountain Enterprise reported on this subject on September 15, with a report and an editorial. See Response by Equifax to Breach Is Dangerously Inadequate and Vast Equifax data breach endangers half of U.S. population—143 million

Analysts report that the data reporting agency’s security systems were obsolete and neglected, leaving the majority of those in America who use credit exposed to having their identities hijacked, making them the vulnerable to massive fraud for decades into the future.

A member of the Equifax board of directors will take the helm, the company said, three weeks after Smith revealed the breach. On September 7 Smith reported the intrusion into the company’s database occurred possibly in mid-May.

CNN Money reported today that “Smith has built a fortune with his Equifax holdings. Just since the start of 2016, Smith has netted $68.9 million by selling Equifax stock, a CNNMoney analysis found. His remaining shares are still worth about $28 million.”

This is part of the September 22, 2017 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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