Equifax on Monday said an investigation into the massive data breach at the credit agency discovered 2.5 million additional potential victims, bringing the total to 145.5 million.
Interim chief executive Paulino do Rego Barros, made the disclosure in a statement, saying: “Our priorities are transparency and improving support for consumers. I will continue to monitor our progress on a daily basis.”
The statement said the cybersecurity firm Mandiant made the new estimate after a forensic review of the incident, which is believed to be one of the worst breaches because of the sensitivity of data leaked.
The review “also has concluded that there is no evidence the attackers accessed databases located outside of the United States,” the Equifax statement said.
Mandiant found that about 8,000 Canadian consumers were affected by the hack, fewer than the initial estimate of 100,000. The company said a review of the impact on British consumers was still being analyzed.
Separately on Monday, former Equifax chief executive officer Richard Smith said in testimony prepared for a congressional hearing that the security team at Equifax failed to patch a vulnerability in March after getting a warning about the flaw.
Smith offered a timeline of the cyberattack which leaked US Social Security numbers and other sensitive data.
Smith said in prepared remarks to a House of Representatives panel that the company on March 9 circulated an internal memo warning about a software flaw identified by the US government’s Computer Emergency Response Team.
He added that Equifax policy would have required a patch to be applied within 48 hours and that this was not done — but he could not explain why.
Equifax’s information security department ran scans that should have identified any systems that were vulnerable, but failed to identify any flaws in the software known as Apache Struts.
“I understand that Equifax’s investigation into these issues is ongoing,” he said in the statement. “The company knows, however, that it was this unpatched vulnerability that allowed hackers to access personal identifying information.”
Smith said he was notified of the breach on July 31, but was not aware “of the scope of this attack.”
He informed the company’s lead director three weeks later, on Aug. 22, and board meetings were held on the matter Aug. 24 and Aug. 25.
Equifax, one of the major agencies gathering data used in credit ratings for banks, has come under fire for waiting until Sept. 7 to publicly disclose the breach, and investigators are looking into stock sales by two senior executives in August.
Smith stepped down last week amid the investigation, while indicating he would remain in a consulting capacity during the investigation, which includes a congressional hearing scheduled for yesterday.
Smith offered a fresh apology for the attack, saying in his statement: “As CEO I was ultimately responsible for what happened on my watch. Equifax was entrusted with Americans’ private data and we let them down.”
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
RSS