Equifax Breach is a Warning to Businesses

Date September 18, 2017
Authors Steven Franckhauser
Categories

Cyber threats create havoc on many levels. Unfortunately, data breaches are a grim reality in life and business today.

Equifax recently revealed a data breach of more than 143,000,000 of its U.S. customers. Unlike other public data breaches in the recent past, the information stolen from Equifax likely includes extremely personal identification information such as social security numbers, e-mail addresses, dates of birth and similar “static” data. Such data cannot be changed by the victim without an extraordinary investment of time, effort and expense because it has been used to identify the victim over the course of his or her lifetime.

In addressing the breach, Equifax will waive all of its fees until November 21 for customers who want to freeze their credit files as well as to offer a refund of fees to those who have paid for services since September 7, 2017. For a full list of options and other details, visit www.equifaxsecurity2017.com PLEASE NOTE: We recommend that you revisit the site often because Equifax has already made numerous changes to these options.

There are many potential points of entry for cyber threats. It behooves you and your business to remain attentive to your company policies and practices regarding e-mail, transmission and storage of data. Just as critical to your data security efforts are those of your business partners and sub-service organizations. Attestation to your cybersecurity and information assurance program is of critical importance as these attacks grow increasingly more sophisticated and use a myriad of methods to exploit vulnerabilities in technology, staff, business processes and combinations thereof.

Consequently, it is essential to ensure your cybersecurity transcends traditional network security and becomes organizational security. Compliance with industry leading frameworks facilitates simply that.

Data security is crucial to your business structure. We urge you to take measures now to protect your business. Please contact us for more information on cyber security methods and options or for a related business consultation.

Speak to one of our professionals about your organizational needs

"*" indicates required fields

hbkcpa.com needs the contact information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at anytime. For information on how to unsubscribe, as well as our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy, check out our Privacy Policy.