Equifax: From Retail Rumors to the 147 Million Record Breach

In this episode, we profile Equifax, one of the "Big Three" consumer credit reporting agencies headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. We trace the company's origins as the Retail Credit Company in 1899 and its controversial history of collecting rumors regarding consumers' sex lives and political activities—practices that led to a strategic name change in 1975. We delve into the massive 2017 cybersecurity breach, where hackers exploited a vulnerability to access the personal data of approximately 147.9 million Americans, remaining undetected in the system for 134 days. Listeners will learn about the fallout of this event, including the indictment of members of China’s People’s Liberation Army, the insider trading convictions of Equifax employees, and the subsequent $700 million settlement with regulators. Finally, we discuss the company's other security and reporting failures, from a 2022 error that sent inaccurate credit scores to lenders, to a lawsuit filed by a man named God who was erroneously reported as having no credit history.