Equifax

Summit Credit Union in Madison, Wis., has filed what's believed to be the first lawsuit by a financial institution in connection with the massive data breach.

The hearings before the Senate Banking Committee have high stakes for both companies, as lawmakers are expected to ask the CEOs whether they should be fired.

Data breaches and payment hacks require not only tech measures, but crisis management. Had Equifax gotten out in front of the story, particularly during the slow news period of August, it would have earned kudos and perhaps mitigated some of the public scrutiny.

Historically, the industry has placed much greater emphasis on preventing fraud at the point of transaction without doing enough to stop fraudulent account openings, writes Melissa Townsley, co-founder and CEO of GIACT systems.

Consumers and merchants in a digital ecosystem are changing the way people interact with each other and machines, changing payments and requiring an updated approach to security, according to Mastercard.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wells Fargo’s treatment of customers was “egregious and unacceptable," hinting that more regulatory action was likely.

Equifax's data breach may be the most serious, given that it covered 143 million consumers and involved reams of confidential information, but it wasn't the largest. Following are the biggest to date.

While the payments industry may believe a "breach fatigue" has set in, it may have been the expectation of a cowed and apathetic public that partly led to Equifax’s maligned response after its data breach was finally made public.

An internal CFPB memo says it was considering a $10 billion fine before settling on $100 million; state suit against credit bureau is likely to be the first of many.

Data breaches and payment hacks require not only tech measures, but crisis management. Had Equifax gotten out in front of the story, particularly during the slow news period of August, it would have earned kudos and perhaps mitigated some of the public scrutiny, writes David E. Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called for bipartisan action against Equifax during a Senate floor speech on Tuesday, criticizing the credit bureau for waiting several weeks after a massive data breach to reveal it to the public.

The Equifax breach has millions of Americans now thinking about freezing their credit to guard against identity theft. But those who act could be cutting themselves off from the nation's vast credit economy.

Equifax learned about a major breach of its computer systems in March — almost five months before the date it has publicly disclosed, according to three people familiar with the situation.

Efforts to persuade regulators to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to use alternative credit scores would stifle competition between the credit bureaus and FICO and do little to expand access to credit, according to industry analyst Chris Whalen.

Without the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's expanding consumers' legal options, they will continue to be vulnerable to the abusive practices that have proliferated throughout the financial industry in recent years.

The chief information officer and top security officer are retiring in the wake of the massive data hack; Mike Cagney is leaving the student loan lender.

Senate Democrats' legislative bid to reform the credit reporting industry is tempered and balanced, according to analysts, which could help it gain traction in the GOP-controlled Congress.

Equifax Inc. said two of its senior executives are leaving as the credit-reporting company faces mounting public anger for losing data on 143 million Americans in one of the biggest cyberattacks in history.

The bill would create a federal obligation for credit reporting agencies to offer free credit freezes and prevent them from selling consumer information while a freeze is in place.

Agency confirms it’s investigating the credit bureau; regulator gives green light to Upstart Network to use cellphone payments, etc., to underwrite loans.