- Richard Smith was testifying to Senate Banking Committee when he made claim
- He said a single person in the IT department failed to update security weak spot
- He also said despite spending nearly $250m on security, firm’s software failed
- The personal financial data of over 145 million Americans was hacked in July
The disgraced ex-CEO of Equifax credit bureau has blamed the hack of over 145 million Americans’ personal financial history on a single IT worker.
Richard Smith, who has been apologizing for the data breach in Washington DC, was testifying to the Senate Banking Committee.
He said a single person in the IT department failed to update – ‘patch’ – a security weak spot after the company was warned about it in March.
Richard Smith, who has been apologizing for the data breach in Washington DC, was testifying to the Senate Banking Committee
According to NBC, he said: ‘An individual did not ensure communication got to the right person to manually patch the application.’
He also said that despite spending nearly $250 million on security, the firm’s scanning software did not find a weak point until an intrusion was spotted on July 29.
Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling – who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, to which Smith also testified – said ‘criminals got everything they need to steal your identity’ during the breach.
He added: ‘This may be the most harmful attack on a company’s personal information the world has ever seen.’
There were also digs at Smith about the awarding of a $7.25 million contract to Equifax with the IRS.
Seven members of the Senate Banking Committee are asking the IRS to rescind the contract.
There were also digs at Smith about the awarding of a $7.25 million contract to Equifax with the IRS
The senators said it shows a clear disregard for millions of Americans who had their personal information stolen.
The contract came to light as Equifax’s former chief executive made the rounds at a series of congressional hearings this week on a data breach that affected 145 million Americans.
The IRS renewed a contract with Equifax to verify taxpayers’ identities, but only until it could resolve a protest Equifax had lodged after the IRS went with another bidder.
The senators say in a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen that ‘we have no assurances that our constituents’ personal information is safe in their hands.’