Equifax: Data of millions of Americans is hacked

On September 16, Equifax claimed that the chief information officer David Webb and the Chief Security Officer Susan Mauldin retired from the company, the Guardian reported. They were on duty when hackers revealed the personal data of 143 million Americans, including dates of birth dates, social security numbers, and the widespread information about the untrustworthy traffic two months ago. Now the company improved its security and data protection.

Equifax knew that it was hacked

Russ Ayers will replace Mauldin, who was criticised for her lack of qualification.

Mark Rohrwasser will replace Webb and will be responsible for international technology operations. There is no information if Webb and Mauldin get any retirement packages.

On July 29, Equifax noticed that it had been breached, but the information was not disclosed until last week. Before the announcement of the breach, three executives of Equifax sold the stock of the company worth around $2 million. The executives had no information about the intervention during the time when they sold their shares.

The public has been pressurizing Equifax since last week when it revealed that hackers had stolen their personal data. On Friday, the company provided the detailed information about the time period when it had been hacked on its online dispute portal.

Equifax believes that the hackers accessed from May 13 to July 30, Quartz reported.

There are three CRAs (credit reporting agencies) including Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian. These agencies collect the credit information of all the Americans from the organizations like banks, credit unions, etc., which issues credit and maintains all the data.

Who is responsible for hacking?

According to Equifax, the companies' open-source software called Apache Struts was too weak to resist hacking. Hackers cracked the software and hacked the huge database. In March, the problem in the software was detected, and after that, the company released the recommended patch for the software.

The security officials of the company were "aware of this vulnerability at that time, and took efforts to identify and to patch any vulnerable systems," Equifax said.

The company took help from Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm, to do a scientific investigation into the case. On Friday, the company said that people would be able to freeze their credits without any fee through November 21.