What caused the data breach at Equifax?

One of the largest data breaches of 2017 involved Equifax. Equifax’s data breach exposed the information of over 143 million consumers. The data breach may cost the company close to $325 million. What caused the Equifax data breach?  Wired reported that attackers entered their system through a web application vulnerability. Many think Equifax could have discovered the vulnerability sooner; a software update may have been the solution. That leaves us to wonder, if that fix was that easy why was it not corrected earlier?

Innovation in technology could be the reason for many mounting cybersecurity threats. Gartner forecast there will be over 20,000 million connected devices by 2020. Sharing data with external sources provides a new set of challenges for IT professionals. IT concerns should not solely be on in-house communications but connected devices as well.

Organizations can also face security risk with decommissioned IT equipment. Last year, BAN (Basel Action Network) created a report that exposed illegal e-waste practices. The investigation tracked electronics donated to Goodwill. Much of the equipment donated was exported to China. The report illustrated the importance of erasing data from decommissioned IT assets. To ensure your data stays safe partner with Liquid Technology. We provide safe and auditable data destruction services.