Data breaches

The Massachusetts Democrat is questioning a claim by the agency about the amount of redress available to those affected by the credit bureau's 2017 data breach.

Equifax Inc. agreed to pay up to $700 million to resolve U.S. federal and state investigations into the 2017 hack that compromised some of the most sensitive information of more than 140 million people.

The agreement with authorities including the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general — and possibly the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — may be announced as soon as Monday.

A bill by Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., would give the CFPB authority to oversee cybersecurity efforts at the credit bureaus.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee concluded that last year’s massive data breach at Equifax was fully preventable, but stopped short of recommending new laws aimed at averting future hacks. Democrats called the final report a “missed opportunity.”

Credit reporting firms with significant operations in New York will face new cybersecurity and registration requirements to stave off concerns related to a breach of Equifax's systems last year.

WEI Mortgage discovered a data breach from an email phishing scam last fall that may have exposed loan package information and identifying data such as Social Security numbers.

The agency's acting chief said hundreds of data breaches justified a halt on collecting information from firms, but experts question that logic.

The news of the data breach cast a shadow over relatively strong first-quarter earnings for the Atlanta bank.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is among several agencies that "continue to investigate events related to" last year's Equifax brief, the credit reporting firm said in a securities filing.

It is unclear whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is abandoning its supervisory oversight of Equifax or just taking a back seat to the Federal Trade Commission as the latter investigates the credit bureau.

Credit score damage is a chief regret among consumers, but among financial goals it impedes, buying a home lies further down the food chain than other priorities.

Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney has cited hundreds of confirmed and suspected data breaches as justification for his halting the bureau's data collection activities last month.

The two senators are set to introduce a bill that would force such firms to pay $100 per customer whose personal information was compromised.

A breach at Alteryx that exposed sensitive information from more than 100 million U.S. households could add to fraud risks in housing finance

Equifax reported earnings that were 27% lower and mortgage services revenue was 2% lower on a year-to-year basis after revealing a major breach and taking steps to improve security.

Calls for less reliance on credit bureaus and Social Security numbers for verification are leading many to envision a future of identity on a distributed ledger.

Equifax continues work to add new security features and restore full access to The Work Number following a report highlighting potential security vulnerabilities in a browser-based portal of its employment verification service.

Recently exposed security vulnerabilities in an Equifax tool used extensively in the mortgage industry are raising new questions about the reliability and veracity of the beleaguered credit bureau's employment verification service.

Equifax observed an increasingly well-worn ritual of scandal-ridden firms by jettisoning CEO Richard Smith: apologize, promise to do better in the future, and sacrifice your top executive in the hopes it will ward off action by Congress and regulators.