Thanks to Equifax, the personal financial data of more than 143 million consumers -44% of the US population- have been exposed to hackers. These criminals have the very data that banks, credit card companies, mortgage companies, and more rely upon to grant you credit. They have your name, Social Security Number, date of birth, address history, and probably more. Now, cybersecurity is everyone’s problem.

The theft, by criminals who exploited a security flaw on the Equifax website, opens the troubling prospect the data is now in the hands of hostile governments, criminal gangs, or both and will remain so indefinitely. – Arstechnica

If you really want your blood to start boiling over this cybersecurity problem, Bloomberg news reports that three Equifax executives sold more than $1.8 million in stock before the breach that was discovered on July 29, 2017, was made public. You have to be asking yourself, why don’t companies take these issues seriously…

For one thing, leadership believes it’s more economical to pay for the breach aftermath than to fix issues beforehand. Remember the breach at Target that lost millions of credit card numbers? CBS News reported that the total bill was $252 million between 2013 and 2014. After $90 million insurance coverage, $162 million was left. Tax deductions brought that amount down to $105 million. The sum was about 0.1 percent of Target’s 2014 revenue.

You need to understand the risks both from a personal perspective and from a business perspective. How are you storing the data of your customers? Is it encrypted? Who has access? Is your company using any type of protection on computers accessing the internet?

Contact Veracity Technologies and let us help you protect your business data. Sign up for our newsletter and stay informed on the latest technology trends that may impact your business.