Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack • Hacker News Board

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#521

Post by Lillian656 » Sat, Sep 09, 2017, 2:42 AM UTC

gozur88 wrote: post #517

cletus wrote: post #340

Ok, so credit reporting agency collects sensitive personal and financial data on basically every adult American, loses it to a bunch of criminals and now I have to deal with the consequences? I looked into credit freezes yesterday. This is really a total scam. You have to _call_ each of the three agencies and pay a fee ($5 to $10) each time. If you need to unfreeze your report to make a legitimate credit application…

>Ok, so credit reporting agency collects sensitive personal and financial data on basically every adult American, loses it to a bunch of criminals and now I have to deal with the consequences? This is what pisses me off - I never gave them authorization to collect information on me. I have no business relationship with these companies. To me they look a lot like parasites even when they're not giving away my data.

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Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#522

Post by wildmusings » Sat, Sep 09, 2017, 2:44 AM UTC

mtanski wrote: post #511

wildmusings wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to what others have said, you cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process in the US.

In principle that's true... In reality 1. You can be shot by a cop even if you do not pose a real threat (they just need to claim they though you might have a gun, simple) 2. People are routinely kept in jail for unreasonably long time because their families cannot afford bail often on things charges are dropped for later 3. Ever hear of civil forfeiture? The whole thing is a nice story that we love to repeat to each…

>Ever hear of civil forfeiture?

Yes, a process in which the government has to prove to the same standard of evidence as someone suing you. That is due process.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#523

Post by datums » Sat, Sep 09, 2017, 2:44 AM UTC

SilasX wrote: post #494

kimsk112 wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faq... said: "You'll need to supply your name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and other personal information. Fees vary based on where you live, but commonly range from $5 to $10." So depending on where you live, you probably have to pay.

So wait, you only need to provide the very same data that was just breached? So anyone can just freeze anyone else's credit now? Edit: well, you have to pay with a credit card so it's traceable, so not that bad.

Well depending if you have the answer to the 4-5 security questions , like previous address ,car loan payment amount, or mortgage , stuff that you would only know. I don't know the full scope of the compromise, but someone wanting to use your info would not benefit from freezing it. If you forget your pin I'm expecting them to send it to the mailing address

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#524

Post by manquer » Sat, Sep 09, 2017, 2:46 AM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #196

pc86 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was not aware the citizenship of the hackers had any bearing on Equifax's liability in this case.

If it's a foreign government it's considered and "act of god", (I.e. Something out of their control) which releases a lot of liability.

to me if you store passwords in plaintext, it is criminal negligence even if God himself did the hack

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#525

Post by zanny » Sat, Sep 09, 2017, 2:49 AM UTC

ajoy wrote: post #493

mbillie1 wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nationalization of credit agencies - or even regulation governing exactly how credit scores are computed, and making that information transparent to the public - would be a huge step forward. Credit-determining algorithms are presently a black box to the public.

Is it not possible to write to our legislative representatives about this about how we think?

You can absolutely write them, you just might find you have a hard time making them care over the sound of campaign donations from the credit oligopoly.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#526

Post by drewmol » Sat, Sep 09, 2017, 2:52 AM UTC

cletus wrote: post #340

Ok, so credit reporting agency collects sensitive personal and financial data on basically every adult American, loses it to a bunch of criminals and now I have to deal with the consequences? I looked into credit freezes yesterday. This is really a total scam. You have to _call_ each of the three agencies and pay a fee ($5 to $10) each time. If you need to unfreeze your report to make a legitimate credit application…

I posted this on another less popular thread about the topic; Equifax stock was down about 14% overnight from yesterday to this morning but held pretty steady today...

"This is not financial advise:

I remember a few commentors on HN recently saying they have made large gains by buying stock of companies after the news of cyber security breaches significantly reduced the share value, then waiting for the dust to settle(reaction-news-cycle to complete) and price to return to similar value after a few months."

Hopefully this time will be different, but I doubt it.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#527

Post by smarks » Sat, Sep 09, 2017, 3:06 AM UTC

datums wrote: post #523

SilasX wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So wait, you only need to provide the very same data that was just breached? So anyone can just freeze anyone else's credit now? Edit: well, you have to pay with a credit card so it's traceable, so not that bad.

Well depending if you have the answer to the 4-5 security questions , like previous address ,car loan payment amount, or mortgage , stuff that you would only know. I don't know the full scope of the compromise, but someone wanting to use your info would not benefit from freezing it. If you forget your pin I'm expecting them to send it to the mailing address

Even if an attacker doesn't benefit, it's still possible for them to mount a denial-of-service attack. That could be very damaging. Or, they could use the threat of a DoS attack for extortion purposes.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#528

Post by hueving » Sat, Sep 09, 2017, 3:14 AM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #241

hueving wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And while it's almost inevitable that discussions about class action suits will involve complaints about the lawyers fees, that's not really fair. Of course it's fair. It's not like the members of the class get to shop around for cheaper lawyers. The class gets shit either way, they just have to decide if they hate the company more than the lawyers that charge the obscene percentages. And you can't make any kind of…

Attorneys' fees in a class action have to be approved by the court, and for large class actions the percentage fee tends to be lower than what a privately-retained lawyer would receive. The privately-retained lawyers in NTP's lawsuit against Blackberry got an approximately 1/3 payout of a $600 million settlement. 20-33% is quite typical in a pure contingency situation. Most court-approved fee awards in class actions…

>Attorneys' fees in a class action have to be approved by the court, and for large class actions the percentage fee tends to be lower than what a privately-retained lawyer would receive.

>$5.7 billion settlement, about $500 million in attorneys' fees, or less than 10% of the fund. $160 million worth of time invested by the attorneys to get to that point.

How often to private retained attorneys get $320 million in pure profit. Additionally the 'time invested' already has income for all of the involved lawyers.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#529

Post by jgowdy » Sat, Sep 09, 2017, 3:15 AM UTC

joe_the_user wrote: post #500

subroutine wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't seem like the executive and judicial branches will need to get involved whatsoever if there is a multibillion dollar lawsuit; if successful this will basically 'dissolve' Equifax.

Well, I wouldn't shed any tears over the dissolution of Equifax and other credit agencies - though a lawsuit would of course involve the judicial branch (the courts). But the problem is: A. If Equifax gets a judgment for close to or for more than the company is worth, the simplest way one could assure the suit is paid to sell the company, keeping the operation going rather than ending it. B. Many businesses integrate…

"Well, I wouldn't shed any tears over the dissolution of Equifax and other credit agencies"

In Project Mayhem we have no names.

Re: Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

#530

Post by astaroth360 » Sat, Sep 09, 2017, 3:15 AM UTC

Time to get rid of credit agencies as a whole. They are entirely useless. Make a Government agency that handles it instead of trusting the private industry to make as much profit as they can to the detriment of damn near everyone.