Congress Isnt Happy About the Equifax Breach.We knew it wouldnt be long before Congress demanded action in response to the Equifax data breachparticularly since several of its members are among the 1.Americans who are pissed about having their Social Security numbers and other personal data exposed.Equifax announced the breach yesterday, and so far the companys behavior has been an example of how not to respond to a data breach.The tool for consumers to check if their data was stolen doesnt really work, Equifax is supposedly offering free credit monitoring but no one can sign up yet, and several of its executives mysteriously sold off stock before the breach was announced.In short, its a disasterand lawmakers arent happy.Among those taking action, three Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee didnt waste any time on Friday digging into the companys questionable response.In a letter Friday, US Representatives Frank Pallone, Jr., Diana De.Gette, and Jan Schakowsky tasked the Government Accountability Office GAO with evaluating whether Equifaxs reaction to the breach will in any way benefit the millions of Americans now at risk of financial fraud.After all, Equifax is itself a credit reporting agency theres plenty of irony to go around.Specifically, the lawmakers say theyre alarmed by GEO reports that suggest simply offering to monitor a breach victims credit is not the way to go.The entire purpose of offering this service, according to GAOs findings, is to avoid liability while offering consumers peace of mind.After the Office of Personnel Management OPM was breached in 2.However, the GAO later found that this decision was not based on any actual analysis of whether or not the services were truly effective, the lawmakers said.While putting peoples minds at ease is certainly a service, its hardly a substitute for a genuine shield against identity theft.Simply compensating consumers whose data has been hacked with a year of monitoring is not going to be enough.Questions remain about whether purchasing and providing credit monitoring for customers is the optimal way to respond to data breaches, the lawmakers wrote.Keystroke logger detection runs only on 32bit Microsoft Windows OSs.See the Keystroke Logger Detection and Host Emulation Detection Supported Operating.For the first time ever, Nest has redesigned its iconic smart thermostat.The new Nest Thermostat E basically does the same stuff the old thermostat did, but its.In particular, we are concerned that the popular response may reflect factors unrelated to the actual protection of breach victims and reliance on these products after the breach may result in consumers being lulled into a false sense of security.The Democrats have asked the GAO to take another swing at determining precisely what post breach solutions would benefit victims of data theftand not just those impacted by Equifax.The lawmakers would like to know, for instance, as do we all,To what extent does the most effective solution vary by breach type, victim characteristics, demographics or other key factors Theyve also asked To what extent are the services offered determined by price and To what extent are they determined by their level of protectionThis incident shows how urgent the need is to find better ways to protect personal data, Rep.Learn how you can help protect your Android phone or optimize your iPhone with the Verizon Support Protection app.Diana De. Gette, the ranking member on the House subcommittee on oversight and investigations, told Gizmodo.Clearly, as a country we need to craft new means to keep thieves and hackers from obtaining and using personal information.Simply compensating consumers whose data has been hacked with a year of monitoring is not going to be enough.Should the GAO identify effective post breach solutions and obstacles that impede their use, De.Gette and her colleagues have also asked for new recommendations on how both the federal government and the private sector can more widely leverage these solutions to the benefit of data breach victims.Its difficult to assess whether Equifaxs offer will actually help anyone.Despite its lengthy press release, the company has revealed next to nothing about the breach and the types of data stolenbeyond saying as many as 1.The company didnt disclose the breach for more than a month after detecting it, a decision which has drawn significant criticism.And the nature of the website application vulnerability supposedly responsible for the breach itself also remains unclear.The ambiguity with which the company has described the incidentthey have referred to it as a cybersecurity incident and an intrusioncould indicate that a hacker, or hackers, went to painstaking lengths to steal its customer database.One would presume they intend to use it.But for all we know now, the company mightve simply left the door wide open, its databases made accessible through some serious lapse in security to virtually anyone with a web browser and the right IP address.What can be weighed, however, is Equifaxs response after learning about the breach Is the company doing everything it can to do right by its customers
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