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Equifax Ethics Paper

1212 Words5 Pages

Equifax is a United States based, international information solutions company, also known as a credit reporting agency. Founded in 1899, in Atlanta Georgia, Equifax quickly built a name for itself as one of the top three largest credit agencies by its entrance into the twenty-first century. Equifax currently operates out of twenty-four countries and employs more than ten thousand individuals.
According to their website, Equifax’s mission is to “establish relationships that create economically healthy communities” (Equifax, 2018). With their goal being set on “powering the world with knowledge” (Equifax, 2018) Equifax believes that they are achieving their goal of social responsibility with the information they provide which allows individuals …show more content…

It consists of the executives that make the tough decisions on a grander scale. When an issue arises, especially one that could have catastrophic fallout for a company, it is the corporate leadership who make the final decisions. The ethical standards of corporate leadership are high and should remain high. Which is why the ethical issues surrounding Equifax and their 2017 data breach became a huge focus of the media during a time when corporate leadership is being heavily scrutinized.
On September 7, 2017, Equifax announced that there had been a cybersecurity breach within their company. Initially, Equifax identified around 145.5 million Americans whose personal information, such as social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and credit card numbers had been accessed in the breach.
The breach was first discovered on July 29, 2017, and was observed for a short period of time to determine the validity of the threat. On, August 2, 2017, Equifax reached out to Mandiant, a firm who specializes in cybersecurity, to investigate their discovery. And what they uncovered was more than just one serious breach. Over the course of more than two months, from May 13, 2017, to July 30, 2017, multiple breaches had occurred compromising nearly half of the American population’s identification …show more content…

Many individuals are asking: how could it have been prevented? Or how could it have been better handled? There is a small window of time needed to make executive decisions about how to handle a breach, especially one of this magnitude. Issues climb the corporate ladder to the leadership and decisions must be made about how to proceed considering the new information. The ethical dilemma that surrounds Equifax has more to do their corporate leadership than it does anything else. People will make poor choices, and it appears, given the “retirement” and the investigations into their previous leadership that Equifax is trying to start again. They are taking the necessary steps toward recovering their image, as well as repairing the damage caused by the error in their

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