The most frustrating thing about the Equifax data breach – other than your life savings potentially disappearing overnight, now or 25 years from now – is that no one will truly ever pay for it.
The CEO certainly won’t pay for it, even though half of America had its private information stolen – Social Security numbers, dates of birth, probably even the passcodes to their garages.
As of this writing, he still has his job, if you can imagine that. Try screwing up that big at your job and see if you keep yours. And even if he’s eventually forced to resign, it’s really no big deal. He can retire if he wants. He’s rich, what does he care? And if he wants to keep working, that’s the great thing about being a CEO in America. You can fail big-time, drive your company into the ground, heck, drive two or three of them into the ground, and someone else will still make you their CEO. CEOs have a lot in common with baseball managers in that regard.
You’re thinking, “Well, maybe he’ll go to prison. Or someone will, at least, right?”
Don’t count on it. The Great Recession threw the entire nation into the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. People lost their jobs, investments, retirements and sense of security. For many, life has never been the same since and never will be again.
But do you know how many top Wall Street bankers went to prison for it? One, according to the New York Times. So the odds of anyone going to jail for a data breach are pretty low.
“OK, maybe the government will fine Equifax then,” you’re thinking.
Maybe. But even if the government fines them, it’ll be a fleabite to a Great Dane. Equifax made $3 billion last year. Do you think they’re going to care if they’re fined a couple hundred million or even a couple billion dollars? Not likely. And even if a fine is huge, it won’t matter in the long run, especially now that they have 134 million new potential customers.
“What about a class action lawsuit then?” you’re thinking. “That’ll fix ‘em.”
No it won’t. Equifax will almost certainly get stung for a huge judgment, very little of which you’ll ever see. But in the end – once again – it’s just money. They can make more. Meanwhile, you’ll have to worry about your identity and money being stolen until the day you die. Nice, huh?
Here’s how I see it: For companies to take protecting our data seriously, the people in charge have to pay a cost. And to me, it makes sense that they pay the same cost as everyone else. By that I mean they should have their private information exposed and see how they like it.
Specifically, I’m thinking Equifax CEO Richard Smith, his executive team and the nitwits in their security department should all have their Social Security numbers, birth dates, bank account and credit card numbers published on billboards nationwide until the last of them pass away decades from now. The information should be refreshed monthly. That way they’ll have to worry until the end of their days.
Right along with the rest of us.
Image credit: Katy Levinson
Brilliant idea. Let’s do it!
Check yourself out. You can go to a website, and type in your last name, and the last six digits of your SS number. And, the darn website will tell you whether or not you probably were hacked. I did it, and I probably was hacked.
Here is the website:
https://trustedidpremier.com/eligibility/enroll.html
Thanks. I did and I was probably not hacked. Semi-good to know.
Please do not do that.
What? Why?
In this case, I guess it is okay. I ran a whois check on that domain name and it does belong to Equifax in Atlanta. They should had purchase a more clear domain name, that one sounds a like a typical spam url.
The reason I was wary is because giving your last name and last 6 digits of SS# is sharing too much in my book.
This is just a possible scenario in other cases, not this one.
When you hit their site, they have your IP address. With that they get your city, They already got your last name, now they just have grab the phone book and try every first name in that city with that last name and those last digits of your SS# until they get access to whatever they are trying to get into. How many places ask for last 4 digits of SS# to confirm identity?
Also if they can some how establish what your first name is, like maybe tracking you back to this page. Because you put a link here, they are going to know people are hitting their site from andrewheller.com and might come to have a look and that could be where they get your first name.
Now they just call around, like maybe they call a major credit card company just to see if you have an account with them by pretending to be you. And if they get lucky and you do have an account there, they could use your name and ss# to change the mailing address and then try to take a out a loan or something.
Typical phishing tactic. They do it because it’s easier than getting a real job.
That is what my concern would be, but I have been accused of being paranoid before. I have never heard of a site asking for even part of my social security number unless it was my bank verifying my identity. Which again I guess is basically what this site is.
Here is another web link, to make sure we never have right-wing murderous creeps sending us into war again.
https/www.lyndonjohnsondickcheneyneverneverneverpoordeadkidsandgrannies
Andrew is quite correct that the executives in charge of Equifax will never be punished. The only ones that will be hurt will be those who use credit cards, have home/car loans and other types of modern day credit. The executives of far too many corporations that have found to have harmed the general American public have been able to get out of any jams. Well Fargo that ripped their customers off by opening fake accounts in the customers name will never suffer any prison time of any type of fines/penalties. These major corporations have been stuffing the pockets of politicians of both major political parties for years. I cannot remember for sure which major bank based in New York about 20 years ago had been giving their customers who used their investment services for years, suddenly found their bonds, stocks and other investments losing money. The bank did not lose any money, in fact they made about 3 billion dollars of so. The bank/investment firm was fined between 1 to 2 billion dollars . The investors never saw any of that money. The feds kept it all.
Tom says, it was not a murderous right wing creep that got into Vietnam. It was a morally corrupt left leaning democrat named Lyndon Baines Johnson who got us into the Vietnam disaster. Kennedy did not want to get involved in Vietnam. Johnson owned stock in a few arms companies.
Tom says Jimmy the Third is a ninny. Lyndon Johnson’s good stuff was leftish, but his bad stuff was murderous horrid militaristic right-wing American horror.
Napalm!
It most certainly did not help that Lady bird Johnson and her family owned 50% or more of Bell Helicopter. We all now what contract they had, the UH-1 Iroquois or to rest of us who sat in that in bird the Huey. Stop the WAR! HELL NO! That would have bad for the economy.
P.S. I hated the smell of napalm in the morning.
Says I wasn’t but do I believe them?
Did Andy write anything about Vietnam? I thought this was about Equifax. Stick to the subject of the day.
Right on! But, I myself am guilty.