Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Exposing 145m Equifax customer deets: $240m. Legal fees: $28.9m. Insurance: Priceless

Data breach cost biz $70m this quarter alone

The Equifax mega-hack has cost the credit reporting agency well north of $200m to date, according to a financial filing for calendar Q1.

In September 2017, Equifax 'fessed up to a breach that exposed the data of more than 145 million people.

The cost of the breach in the latest full quarter ended 31 March was $68.7m, taking the total expense to $242.7m.

This month's layout includes some $45.7m spent on IT and data security, which covers both tech efforts – such as IT infrastructure, application, network and data security improvements – and the people hired to carry out the work.

The remainder was comprised of $28.9m spent on legal and investigative fees – to probe the incident and respond to various claims – and $4.1m on product liability costs.

Equifax clawed back some $10m from insurers in the quarter, taking the tally to $50m since the embarrassing incident. The company noted that it maintains $125m of cybersecurity insurance.

Despite the fallout – which has seen a former exec charged with insider trading and long delays in notifications for some British customers – the company reported revenue of $865.7m this quarter, up 4 per cent year-on-year.

In a statement accompanying the results, newly minted CEO Mark Begor, who was hired this month from equity firm Warburg Pincus, said he was "excited" to join the organisation "at such a pivotal time in the company's history".

He emphasised that Equifax had "invested significantly in data security and IT infrastructure enhancements" and that he was committed to rebuilding customer trust, something that may not happen anytime soon.

"As a custodian of consumer and customer information, protecting sensitive consumer data is a central priority for Equifax and me personally," he claimed. ®

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like