While Marriott is playing defense on its just-announced data breach, Equifax is going on the offense when it comes to cybersecurity.
Ever since the Equifax mega-breach announced in 2017, we've been subscribing to Equifax press releases.
Normally, they're about earnings or a new analytics product they've developed. But today's release told the world how much the company cares about you, me, and cybersecurity.
"Every day at Equifax, we are vigilant about protecting the data and sensitive information we're entrusted with by thousands of companies and consumers in more than two dozen countries on multiple continents," says Jamil Farshchi, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Equifax.
Equifax joining two coalitions to focus on cybersecurity
Farshchi recently spoke at the first annual Gathering of the Centre for Cybersecurity in Geneva. Equifax says it is supporting that organization, which was recently established by the World Economic Forum.
And that's just one of the cybersecurity-focused efforts Equifax has recently joined.
It is also partnering with the Better Identity Coalition to find solutions for more secure identity verification beyond the Social Security number— something that became even more crucial after the Equifax mega-breach.
And now the Marriott mega-breach.
And all the other breaches that happened before and will happen afterward.
[Related: Former Equifax CEO on the day-by-day breach timeline]
The Social Security number is no longer a reliable authenticator
As Stanford CISO Michael Duff told us during SecureWorld Bay Area, the Social Security number has been shared too many times to still be some sort of a "secret."
Equifax mega-breach litigation still pending
Equifax still has class action lawsuits hanging over its head after the breach, although a few months ago the Ponemon Institute told SecureWorld it was looking like the Equifax breach could be the costliest data breach on record.
Will the Marriott mega-breach surpass the costs faced by Equifax? It's hard to say so soon, however, we know this much: Marriott already faces billions in data breach related lawsuits.
