Chinese Military Charged with Equifax Breach

February 10, 2020

The U.S. government has indicted four members of China's military on charges of hacking Equifax to exploit the personal data of 150 million Americans. They allegedly conspired to hack into Equifax's computer networks, maintain unauthorized access to those computers, and steal sensitive, personally identifiable information of nearly half of all American citizens. EPIC President Marc Rotenberg testified before the House in 2018 and the Senate in 2017 about the Equifax breach. Rotenberg warned lawmakers and regulators that the failure of the U.S. government to safeguard the personal data of Americans has placed American consumers at risk from foreign adversaries. And in the Harvard Business Review, Rotenberg explained that "consumer privacy is not a goal achieved by markets. It must be mandated by Congress." EPIC has called for passage of the Online Privacy Act, H.R. 4978, and the creation of a U.S. data protection agency.

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