Equifax boss Richard Smith retired yesterday with immediate effect
Equifax’s boss has quit following a massive hack which exposed the private details of 400,000 Britons and 143m Americans to cyber-criminals.
Richard Smith, 57, retired yesterday with immediate effect – ending a 12-year stint as chairman and chief executive of the credit reference agency.
Equifax has been slammed by politicians on both sides of the Atlantic for the breach which it discovered in July but did not make public until earlier this month.
It means that families’ personal details have been in the hands of criminals for months.
Last week Equifax had still not written to warn the British consumers affected by the data breach that their names, dates of birth, email addresses and phone numbers might have been seized by fraudsters.
Smith said: ‘The cyber-security incident has affected millions. I believe it is in the best interests of the company to have new leadership to move it forward.’
Private equity boss Mark Feidler has replaced Smith as chairman with Equifax president Paulino do Rego Barros Jr named as interim chief executive.
