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Equifax data breach: Incident has cost the firm $1.4 billion so far
From: Destry Winant <destry () riskbasedsecurity com>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2019 08:40:15 -0500
https://www.itpro.co.uk/data-breaches/29418/equifax-data-breach-cost-14-billion-so-far Costs relating to the breach, excluding some legal fees, are valued at more than 350 times the global average The greatest security catastrophe of modern times has cost Equifax more than a billion dollars to date, according to the firm's latest financial results. The 2017 data breach incident saw the US-based credit rating agency expose more than 145 million people's personal records to hackers due to flaws in its systems. The breach was sizeable, but deemed highly alarming due to the nature of the information stolen; ranging from full names and addresses to credit card information. Equifax has now revealed that costs relating to the incident, as well as expenditure on IT and data security, have reached $1.35 billion, excluding a raft of legal fees for lawsuits that are yet to be seen. This stands at more than 350 times the average cost relating to a data breach, according to IBM research released last year, which found that these costs normally average $3.86 million for a large breach. Even for US-based breaches, which cost $7.91 million on average, Equifax's costs are 170 times greater. For the first quarter of 2019 alone the company incurred $786.8 million dollars in costs, including $690 million in legal expenditure. The total sum also included $82.8 million for technology and data security, $12.5 million for legal and investigative fees, and $1.5 million for product liability. The company's chief executive Mark Begor told investors in a conference call that Equifax had made progress since the 2017 breach, according to WABE. This is notably by settling legal action brought against the firm. While costs relating to the Equifax breach are extraordinary by conventional standards, they fall short of the gargantuan $4 billion 'worst-case' figure once tied with the 2011 Epsilon breach. This sum was determined by research into the incident at the time, which suggested the estimated total damage could hit between $3 to $4 billion over time, when forensic audits, monitoring, litigation and lost business were taken into account. _______________________________________________ BreachExchange mailing list sponsored by Risk Based Security BreachExchange () lists riskbasedsecurity com If you wish to Edit your membership or Unsubscribe you can do so at the following link: https://lists.riskbasedsecurity.com/listinfo/breachexchange
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- Equifax data breach: Incident has cost the firm $1.4 billion so far Destry Winant (May 13)