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Tag: Equifax

  • Equifax Fires Dozens for Having a Second Job

    Equifax Fires Dozens for Having a Second Job

    Equifax is cracking down on its employees, using its vast resources to ferret out and fire dozes for having a second job.

    Equifax is one of the biggest credit monitoring and reporting agency. The company is reportedly cracking down on remote employees, firing at least two dozen for having a second job, according to Business Insider.

    “We expect our team to be fully dedicated to EFX and have one role …their job at EFX,” CEO Mark Begor wrote in a company-wide email seen by Insider. “I am sure you are as disappointed as I am.”

    The company used the noncompete agreement employees signed as the basis for firing them, although some say they never broke the agreement.

    “They said, ‘when you started, you signed a paper, an agreement, for noncompete work,’” said one person, maintaining his “side hustle” did not compete with Equifax. “I was like ‘OK, but I wasn’t working in the same field.’”

    The company also has access to a vast wealth of payroll and employment data, access for which it is already under fire. The company evidently used those employment records to find employees with side jobs.

    Given the state of the economy and the trouble people have making ends meet, it’s Equifax is not going to win any goodwill or popularity contests for firing people that take on a second job, especially one that doesn’t compete with Equifax’s business. This incident will also likely spur further calls for action regarding the vast amount of data the company is collecting.

    Begor’s statement that “I am sure you are as disappointed as I am,” may come back to haunt him.

  • Equifax Acquiring Fraud Prevention Company Kount

    Equifax Acquiring Fraud Prevention Company Kount

    Equifax has announced it is acquiring Kount, one of the leading fraud prevention companies.

    Equifax made headlines in 2017 when it suffered one of the worst cyberattacks in history. The hack was a dark spot on a company whose entire existence revolves around consumer data and credit. To make matters worse, the company’s response was widely panned by critics, demonstrating a continued lack of good security measures. The company’s latest acquisition shows how serious it is about improving its security and offering the best options to its customers.

    Kount provides AI-driven fraud protection, helping businesses engage with customers while establishing online digital trust. Identity trust allows companies to establish a trust level for each and every transaction and account action, allowing businesses to determine the level of risk they are willing to take.

    The company’s portfolio will be an important addition to Equifax’s efforts to keep its customers safe.

    “As digital migration accelerates, managing authentication and online fraud while optimizing the consumer’s experience has become one of our customers’ top challenges. The acquisition of Kount will expand Equifax’s differentiated data assets to bring global businesses the information and solutions they need to establish identity trust online,” said Mark W. Begor, CEO of Equifax. “Equifax is taking advantage of our strong 2020 outperformance and cash generation to make this strategic acquisition. Our data and technology cloud investments allow us to quickly and aggressively integrate new data and analytics assets like Kount into our global capabilities and bring new market leading products and solutions to our customers.”

    “More than 9,000 brands worldwide rely on the Kount Identity Trust Global Network to protect against digital fraud while enabling personalized customer experiences and new e-commerce channels,” said Bradley Wiskirchen, CEO of Kount. “We are excited to be able to offer Kount solutions with an expansive set of Equifax data, analytics and products. Equifax’s global reach will accelerate Kount’s international adoption, allowing us to help more businesses around the world to better protect their digital innovations and their customers against emerging threats while improving the customer experience.”

    The deal is worth $640 million and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.

  • U.S. Indicts 4 China Military Personnel for Equifax Breach

    U.S. Indicts 4 China Military Personnel for Equifax Breach

    TheStreet.com is reporting the U.S. has handed down a nine-count indictment against four Chinese military personnel, claiming they hacked into Equifax.

    “This was a deliberate and sweeping intrusion into the private information of the American people,” Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.

    “Today, we hold PLA hackers accountable for their criminal actions, and we remind the Chinese government that we have the capability to remove the Internet’s cloak of anonymity and find the hackers that nation repeatedly deploys against us.”

    The indictment accuses the hackers of stealing Americans’ personal data, as well as trade secrets from Equifax. The hackers evidently used a tor router to route their connection through nearly 20 countries and 34 different servers in an attempt to cover their tracks.

    While there’s virtually no chance the indictments will result in anyone being brought to justice—since they are active Chinese military personnel—it will likely be a source of embarrassment to Chinese officials, especially as the country is trying to end the trade war with the U.S.

  • Senators Express Alarm Over FBI Secretly Demanding Data From Credit Agencies

    Senators Express Alarm Over FBI Secretly Demanding Data From Credit Agencies

    Documents have come to light exposing the FBI’s practice of secretly demanding information about Americans from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

    According to a report by TechCrunch, the FBI has been using “legal powers — known as national security letters — to compel credit giants to turn over non-content information, such as records of purchases and locations, that the agency deems necessary in national security investigations. But these letters have no judicial oversight and are typically filed with a gag order, preventing the recipient from disclosing the demand to anyone else — including the target of the letter.”

    Tech companies have been dealing with national security letters for some time but, following the Edward Snowden revelations, the laws were changed in 2015 to give companies the right to petition for release from the gag orders. As a result, tech companies routinely publish transparency reports, disclosing how many times the government has requested their assistance.

    In the wake of these documents becoming public, at least three senators have expressed concern. Republican senator Rand Paul and Democratic senators Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren have written letters to the three credit agencies, questioning why the agencies have never disclosed the FBI’s requests.

    “Because your company holds so much potentially sensitive data on so many Americans and collects this information without obtaining consent from these individuals, you have a responsibility to be transparent about how you handle that data,” the letters said. “Unfortunately, your company has not provided information to policymakers or the public about the type or the number of disclosures that you have made to the FBI.”

    Senator Wyden, in particular, has been a vocal proponent of privacy protections and an equally vocal critic of questionable and illegal spying on American citizens. With these new revelations, it’s a safe bet there will be more inquiries and possible regulation to govern how the financial and credit information of Americans can be accessed and used.

  • Woman Sues Equifax and Wins

    Woman Sues Equifax and Wins

    Credit scores are useful personal markers in contemporary society. Purchasing houses, getting better auto rates, and even receiving interviews can all be benefits to having higher credit scores. On the flip side, lower rates lead to turmoil.

    Equifax was ordered on Friday to pay Julie Miller of Marion County, Oregon, $18.6 million for a case that was originally filed in 2011 due to a series of unresolved errors. Julie made eight points of contact to rectify misinformation on her record including such pertinent information as her Social Security number, birthdate, and even collection accounts according to OregonLive.com.

    How can a company get this information wrong? Even more importantly, how can incorrect information continue to remain on one’s record even after requests for corrections have been sent? Don’t we all depend on companies inputting our personal information correctly?

    The incorrect reports were first brought to Julie’s attention in 2009 when she was unable to receive credit from a bank due to the scoring. She requested her free credit report only to find that the information was inaccurate. Her protests toward Equifax went unresolved until October 2011 when she decided to take matters to the courts. Julie found that other credit reporting agencies also had errors; however, the other agencies made changes at her request.

    While there is no surefire way to prevent this from happening, consumers do have some personal power to ensure protection. Requesting a free annual credit score is a good place to start. Consumers trust companies to handle personal information with respect and accuracy. When these boundaries are broken, the fabric of our society begins to erode.