![]() #Equifax data breach softwareWhy didn’t Equifax take down the web portal as soon as it knew the software was vulnerable, and not brought the portal back up until the security flaw was patched?Ĭompanies lacking in internal controls tend to be more exposed to ethical failings than companies with strong internal controls. The hackers gained access to Equifax’s data from May 13 through July 30th, when Equifax took down this web portal. This vulnerability was known to Equifax since March 2017. The company believes that the hackers gained access to its data through a vulnerability in Apache Struts. Equifax had an ethical duty to its customers to maintain personal data with utmost security.Įquifax used an open-source software tool known as Apache Struts that supported Equifax’s online dispute portal web application. #Equifax data breach codeSo, how well did Equifax’s executives live up to its own code of ethics? Several things strike me about the ethics of Equifax’s handling of the situation. Smith has an introductory message to the code discussing his commitment to the code and compliance. Equifax’s code touts the importance of honesty and fair dealing in maintaining appropriate business relations, protecting the privacy and confidential information of others, advising employees to watch out for company property that is not secured, and prohibition of insider trading. Ironically, Equifax updated and reissued its corporate code of ethics in July, about the same time it discovered the breach. If you had to boil down the two most core ethical principles that were required of Equifax given these unique roles, it should be integrity and security. Equifax’s customers also include the users of this data to make credit decisions. consumers is a crisis of epic proportions.Įquifax, like its two rivals, is the gateway to consumers’ access to financial credit. The Equifax data breach that exposed the personal data of about 143 million U.S. How a company and its leadership adheres to its core principles and responsibilities during a crisis speaks volumes about its ethics. ![]() For simplicity’s sake, I start each diary post with the day it was written. For this reason, we decided to take the original blog down until I completed my supervised release in February 2017.Īccordingly, there is a post date and a diary date for each post if it was written while I was in prison. However, it soon became evident that I was writing about things that could have been very embarrassing to prison officials and, that had these things been told to the outside world, there was a real risk that the prison officials would exact retribution on me. She saved all my emails with the intention of publishing them on, a blog that we established for this purpose. But, the Blog also includes my diary when I was incarcerated at FCI Butner from August 16, 2011, until October 8, 2014.ĭuring this time I had access to a closed inmate email system that I used to write my daily observations to my wife, Christine. My Blog includes current writings of interest to my work as an ethics expert. ![]()
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