Rep. Rosen Calls Out Equifax for Putting Profits Ahead of Consumers

Press Release

Today Congresswoman Jacky Rosen (NV-03) joined several of her colleagues in sending a letter demanding answers from Equifax Chairman and CEO, Richard F. Smith, following a massive cyber data breach that revealed sensitive information, including the Social Security numbers, addresses, and driver's license numbers of as many as 143 million Americans. The Congresswoman released the following statement in addition to the letter. According to the Associated Press, Equifax knew about their software coding problem as early as March.

"As someone who has written code for some of the biggest companies in Nevada, I understand the severity and urgency behind protecting sensitive information from a cyber attack or security breach," said Rosen. "Anyone who works with software knows the importance of keeping every line of code up to date, especially if it's a problem that has been detected. Instead of taking precaution and protecting consumers who trusted Equifax with their most sensitive information, Equifax executives shamelessly placed profits ahead of people. Their irresponsible actions have left millions of Americans vulnerable to identity theft. I will continue to fight on behalf of consumers by demanding answers from Equifax on why it failed to fix its software months before it experienced a massive hack."

BACKGROUND: Equifax, a major consumer credit reporting agency, recently disclosed that it experienced a massive data breach believed to have occurred in May and discovered internally by Equifax in late July. The delay in notifying affected consumers further risked exposing them to criminal activity. Equifax has stated that the three executives were not notified of the breach when they sold shares and exercised options. The letter signed by Rep. Rosen demands to know why Equifax delayed informing impacted consumers about the data breach and, if the three executives indeed did not know about the breach before selling off their stock in violation of insider trading laws, why these three top-level company officials were kept in the dark about such a serious cyberattack. Rep. Rosen is a former systems analyst and Member of the House Science Committee's Research & Technology Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over civilian cybersecurity matters.

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