Updates about the Equifax information breach and its fallout are still hitting the headlines. Security experts confirmed that the breach was caused by a security issue that was discovered back in March of 2017; a patch for that issue was released shortly after the discovery, putting the blame of the Equifax breach back to Equifax and poor server maintenance.
The latest update, however, revealed that the FTC is launching its own inquiry into the Equifax case. The announcement is an unusual move, but an understandable one considering more than 143 million Americans have had their personal information stolen. What does the announcement – and the inquiry – mean?
Calming the Market
The breach of Equifax server isn’t just causing turmoil among its customers. The market is greatly affected by it as well, which is why FTC’s announcement couldn’t come soon enough. The announcement is an unprecedented move by FTC. The Bureau has never announced an investigation or made comments about an ongoing inquiry before.
It was an announcement made to calm the millions of customers affected by the breach and the market in general. According to information compiled by the online executive MBA program of Washington State University, the move by FTC is working.
Customers are calmer; they still flood Equifax’s website and call centers with questions and angry comments, but the general tone is much better than it was when news of the breach first broke. Customers now know their rights and the things they can do to prevent the breach from causing more problems.
Temporary Solution Available
The best solution for customers right now is putting a freeze on their credit report. This will affect customers’ ability to make big purchases, apply for a new loan, and perform other major financial moves. Their credit report will have to be unfrozen before these things can be done since they often require a credit check.
The freeze also costs customers money. It may cost up to $10 to have one’s credit report frozen and inaccessible. That said, experts with an online executive MBA and other sources are deeming a freeze to be the best solution right now.
Of course, it is a temporary solution. It is still unclear how Equifax is planning to deal with the aftermath of this breach. A separate criminal investigation into the hacking is also currently in progress.
Equifax is also offering credit monitoring and identity theft insurance to customers for free. On the other hand, a term in Equifax’s own website is causing more problems by asking customers to waive their right to file a lawsuit in exchange for a vulnerability check.
An Unfortunate Breach
As mentioned previously, the breach could have been easily prevented by upgrading to a newer version of Apache Struts program. Many financial institutions and businesses are now taking their use of the program more seriously.
Apache Struts is a program that handles web server functionalities, particularly storing and serving data. Many companies are using Apache Struts to handle document management, business databases, and other functions. Some of these companies are the largest on the market; the Equifax breach is a timely reminder for these companies to manage their online risk.
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