Management Information System Case Study: The Equifax Data Breach

This case study examines the Equifax security breach that occurred on July 29, 2018, affecting millions of consumers. The author, personally impacted by the breach, outlines immediate steps for affected individuals, such as freezing credit and monitoring accounts. The study holds Equifax responsible for its casual approach to data security, citing the failure to patch vulnerabilities in Apache Struts as a critical oversight. The case emphasizes the importance of regular technical maintenance and proactive security measures to prevent similar incidents. Desklib provides students access to a variety of solved assignments and study resources, including case studies and past papers, to support their academic endeavors.

Running Head: MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

2MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
1.
I got aware of a security breach on September 7th, 2018 as Equifax announced the
breach in cyber security incident which affected millions of consumers including me. The
breach took place on July 29, 2018, and is reported to be one of the largest in cybercrime
history. Equifax has been the nation's largest credit reporting companies and the risk of
identity theft took place for more than 140 million US consumers (Berghel, 2017). I was also
a credit card holder from Equifax which means I am at potential risk of losing valuable
information that can be exploited against me. The personal information included name,
addresses, social security numbers, and driver's license numbers.
2.
As these important information have been compromised there are few immediate
steps that I am willing to take and also suggested for every consumer who have been affected
by this breach:
 Freeze the credit card and change or create strong secure passwords immediately over
the Equifax profile.
 Monitor the email id which is linked with Equifax as the company has created
resources for assisting consumers with this breach.
 Frequently monitor monthly financial account statements and only provide important
information wherever necessary.
3.
Equifax should be made cent percent responsible for a security breach at this level. A
giant multinational company like this had very casual control over the data security of
customers. However the company blamed Apache Struts for is breach which is an open
source software but Equifax should be aware of its flaws (Luszcz, 2018). Equifax failed to
patch their application regularly which exposed the organization to the vulnerabilities. This
incident can be avoided by tackling technical faults on a day to day basis.

3MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
References
Berghel, H. (2017). Equifax and the latest round of identity theft roulette. Computer, 50(12),
72-76.
Luszcz, J. (2018). Apache Struts 2: how technical and development gaps caused the Equifax
Breach. Network Security, 2018(1), 5-8.