Equifax Company Case Study

Introduction

Among the important aspects that all the companies follow is the need to protect the interests of their clients. One of the methods that are used to protect the interest of the clients is by protecting the data and information concerning them. In one of the latest incidences, Equifax, a company that deals with credit and demographic data services. In addition to that, the company also sells credit monitoring and fraud prevention to other companies. In 2017, the company was hit by a significant data fraud and a lot of the customers' data was leaked to the companies that breached their system. The client's identity card numbers, driving license numbers, birth certificate numbers among other vital information was leaked or tampered with which resulted in the data in the company getting mixed up. This paper is an analysis of the effects that the data breach had on the company as well as the clients whose data was leaked. In addition to that, the paper also looks into how Equifax has started using artificial intelligence to boost their security protocol and how all the knowledge about the breach and how the company is handling it can be applied to other businesses.

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Effects of the Breach

One of the significant effects of the breach of the data was the charges that applied as many of their clients were significantly disappointed and unsatisfied. A large group of clients withdrew from the company as they could no longer trust how their private data was being handled. The clients who remained also had problems accessing information concerning them ass the records that the company had were jumbled up by the breach. The data was not accurate, and many a time, the customers complained that the information they had did not belong to them. It was a big dent in the market for the services that the company offered. Many potential customers turned away from the offers that the organization had which meant that the company did not make as many sales as it did before the breach.

Moreover, the organization was charged by other enterprises for the mistake. An excellent example is the British Information Commissioners office issued a claim that it Equifax needed to pay a PS500,000 fine as a result of the crime. The allegation that the office had was that the company did not take all the precautionary matters properly in the management of the data. It was clear that the organization did not take a warning that had been given earlier that they were vulnerable to hacking and had turned down the essence to upgrade their data protection procedures. As a result of the neglect, the company had suffered the significant effects of the cybercrime. The negligence probed the British office to punish Equifax, and they charged it a big fine for the mistake (Archer, 2018).

Artificial Intelligence in Equifax

As a result of the data breach, Equifax has decided to invest in artificial intelligence. It is a simulation of the intellect that humans portray but is infused in machines especially computers. The process includes the acquisition of information, management of the acquired data and reasoning soundly. An excellent example of such is NeuroDecision Technology (NDT) that was introduced in the enterprise in 2018 (Equifax, 2018). Technology has helped in increasing the outcome of the security process. The process is made unique to the company via a platform known as the Equifax Ignite. The development has enabled the company to analyze the full cycle of data storage in the facility and increased the transparency which makes it harder to tamper with the info.

Recommendations from the Findings

Basing on the above findings, it is critical that the companies that have well-established security mean as a means to avoid any breaches that may occur to them. It is also critical to monitor any information or transactions that get into the company as they may mean a lot in curbing any irregularities that the institutions may be facing. Artificial intelligence is also very essential since it is less prone to error as it is based on computers. Humans are more eligible for making mistakes compared to well-maintained software in the right machines. It would, therefore, be wiser to apply artificial intelligence compared to depending on humans.

Conclusion

It is essential to safeguard the priorities off the clients. In most cases, he clients prefer wen their data is stored insecure places away from fraudsters who may misuse it. For the example of Equifax, the data breach caused some of their clients to withdraw from seeking help from the company. In addition to that, any organization should assess the data that gets into the storage to avoid any instances that the some malware is introduced to the system in form of data. The above procedure can be improved by the use of software that is less prone to error.

References

Archer, J. (2018). Equifax fined PS500,000 for data breach of 15m UK customers. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/09/19/equifax-fined-500000-data-breach-15m-uk-customers/

Equifax. (2018). Equifax Launches NeuroDecision Technology. Retrieved from https://investor.equifax.com/news-and-events/news/2018/03-26-2018-143044126