The Equifax Breach: What It Means for Your Business

What happened?

Equifax, one of 3 major credit reporting firms in the U.S., revealed on Thursday as many as 143 million Americans may have had their personal information leaked to hackers. The sheer volume alone makes this one of the biggest security incidents to date, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

The true impact is the sensitivity of data compromised: Social security numbers, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and credit card information. This data is now out in the wild and will be for many years to come, to be bought and sold in online marketplaces, known as the dark web.

What should you be doing in response?

It’s important to remember that while this breach affects your employees personally, that personal information can be leveraged to gain access to your networks using employee accounts. If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to assess your network’s security posture to ensure your data is protected, and that you have the capability in place to detect attacks as soon as possible. 

Do you know if your information is on the ‘dark web’?

The hacking community is organized and hacking for profit. Everyday information, including usernames and associated passwords, is stolen and offered for sale to other hackers and criminals. Dataprise can help you monitor the ‘dark web’ (the internet’s ‘black market’) for signs of a compromise to your business accounts. This pre-breach business monitoring and notification can be imperative in remediating any potential issues before they affect you or your business.

If you have any questions or want to know how Dataprise can assist in hardening your security posture, please reach out to your Dataprise point of contact or call 888.519.8111.