Equifax CEO Resigns After Huge Data Breach
The breach exposed personal info of almost 150 million Americans.
Equifax CEO Richard Smith has resigned a few weeks after the company disclosed a massive data breach that exposed private information of almost 150 Americans. From The Wall Street Journal:
Paulino do Rego Barros, Jr., who most recently served as president of Equifax’s Asia-Pacific business, has been named interim CEO. Board member Mark Feidler will serve as non-executive chairman.
Equifax shares, down 26% since reporting the hack, fell 2% to $103 in premarket trading Tuesday.
The company said its board will launch a search for a new CEO and consider both internal and external candidates. Mr. Smith will serve as an unpaid adviser to Equifax to assist in the transition.
Earlier this month, Equifax disclosed that hackers had gained access to some of its systems, potentially compromising the personal information of roughly 143 million U.S. consumers in one of the biggest and most threatening data breaches of recent years.
“The board remains deeply concerned about and totally focused on the cybersecurity incident,” Mr. Feidler said in prepared remarks. “We are working intensely to support consumers and make the necessary changes to minimize the risk that something like this happens again.”
Last week, reports came out that the DOJ has opened an insider trader investigation into Equifax stock sales. The company discovered the breach on July 29 and three top executives at the company sold shares a few days later. But Equifax didn’t reveal the breach until early September.
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Comments
Yeah, hiring people whose formal education was in music and language to head up your IT and Information Security teams probably wasn’t a real great idea. Good riddance, GTFO.
that exposed private information of almost 150 Americans.
That’s not a large number.
No doubt CEO Richard Smith received hundreds of millions of dollars in severance pay for his stellar performance.
You beat me to it. And, let me add, he will show up in some boaredroom or another before very long.