Kaspersky Lab: Last Friday, we reported on the hack of Equifax, an American company that offers credit verification and theft protection solutions.
The site was breached by hackers who obtained personal information from many of the company's customers. So, at this point, the data of 143 million Americans, or half the country, has been leaked.
Today Kaspersky issued a press release with the comment of David Emm, principal security researcher at Kaspersky Lab.
We quote it as it is:
“This is yet another breach that is becoming public long after the incident itself, highlighting the need for regulation. We hope that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force in May 2018, will motivate businesses to, firstly, take steps to secure their customers’ data and, secondly, notify the ICO of breaches in a timely manner. The best way for organisations to combat cyberattacks is to have an effective digital security strategy in place before they become a target.
Customers who entrust their private information to businesses should be safe in the knowledge that it is being kept safe – and businesses should be using security solutions to significantly mitigate the risk of a successful attack. There are also other steps companies can take to provide complete protection, which include running fully updated software, performing regular security audits and conducting penetration testing.
Consumers have no control over the security of their online providers, but they can mitigate the risk of a breach of the provider’s online systems. To that end, we recommend using unique, complex passwords on all of their online accounts and we also encourage users to take advantage of two-factor or two-step authentication where the provider offers it.”
