House leaders press Equifax for information about data breach, post-breach details

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee raised questions and requested additional information on Friday about the Equifax data breach that exposed the personal information of 145.5 million Americans earlier this year.

In a letter to Paulino do Rego Barros Jr., the interim CEO of Equifax, and Mark Feidler, the non-executive chairman of Equifax, the lawmakers requested all communications between specific Equifax officials.

The committee leaders also questioned why sensitive information — such as driver’s license numbers, credit card numbers, and credit card dispute information — was available through a consumer-facing web portal for submitting credit disputes. They also questioned why the personal data of consumers who had never submitted a credit dispute was available through the portal.

U.S. Reps. Greg Walden (R-OR), the chairman of the committee, Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), the ranking member of the committee, Bob Latta (R-OH), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), the ranking member of the subcommittee, also pressed Equifax for information pertaining to the resignation of former Equifax CEO Richard Smith.

“Because Mr. Smith can no longer speak for Equifax’s plans going forward and due to subsequent revelations that have come to our attention, we have additional questions about the data breach, the post-breach response and consumer protection remediation offered by Equifax,” the letter stated.

The lawmakers also requested information about steps Equifax had taken post-breach to speed up its assessment of unauthorized, what changes have been made to data security protocols and steps taken to notify affected customers, and root analyses of earlier breaches reported in 2016 and 2017.

The lawmakers also sought information about Smith’s relationship with Equifax following his retirement, and the timeline for other key company officials resigning their positions.