6) Security Risks Part 4

The idea of credit has been around for a long time, but the modern credit system we use today didn't exist until the ​ (a)   . The first credit bureaus were local businesses that ​ (b)   about people's creditworthiness, like whether they paid their bills ​ (c)   .

The three major credit bureaus in the United States, ​ (a)   , TransUnion, and Experian, were formed in the 1900s. These bureaus ​ (b)   to develop consistent methods for reporting ​ (c)   information.

When we think about security, we often think about mistakes that we personally have made - like ​ (a)   in a text message from someone we don't know. But what about companies? Security is a major concern for ​ (b)   , and sometimes human errors can have massive consequences.

Today we are going to take a look at the credit reporting bureau Equifax. In 2017, Equifax was ​ (c)   and the private information of around 145 million people was compromised.

In September 2017, Equifax, one of the largest credit reporting agencies in the United States, announced a massive ​ (a)   that affected 143 million consumers. This breach exposed sensitive personal information, including names, Social Security ​ (b)   , driver's license numbers, mailing addresses, ​ (c)   dates, and ​ (d)   numbers. The company had learned about the breach on July 29th, but waited ​ (e)   to disclose it to the public.

The Equifax breach was a result of ​ (a)   security failures. Hackers initially gained access to the company's network through a consumer complaint ​ (b)   , exploiting a known vulnerability that should have been patched.

The hackers were able to steal data undetected for months because Equifax had failed to ​ (c)   an encryption certificate on one of its internal security tools.

A congressional investigation found that the Equifax breach was "entirely ​ (a)   ". The report ​ (b)   the company for failing to modernize its technology, neglecting to ​ (c)   when vulnerabilities were detected, and storing sensitive data on ​ (d)   and inadequate systems.