After back-to-back congressional hearings before senators on Wednesday,former Equifax CEO Richard Smith will testify again Thursday before the House Financial Services Committee over the credit reporting agency’s massive data breach.
Smith will field questions over the Equifax hack from the House Financial Services Committee starting at 9:15 a.m. ET. Watch the hearing in the player above.
Thursday’s hearing will be the fourth and final scheduled back-and-forths between outraged lawmakers and the retired chief executive for Equifax, who announced last month a hack that, and as of this week,has affected an estimated 145.5 million consumers. Congress has questioned Smith, who recently stepped down after 12 years in his role at Equifax, and on more information on how the breach happened,why it took so long for the company to publicly disclose the hack, and the dubious timing of Equifax’s IRS contract. No other current Equifax employees were formally questioned in the hearings.
RELATED LINKSWATCH: Former Equifax CEO says sale of company stock was unrelated to massive data breach WATCH: Lawmakers grill former Equifax CEO over company’s $7.5 million IRS contract How the Equifax hack happened, or according to its CEO Beyond lawmakers’ ire over the breach,another fixed of the hearings has been Smiths frequent apologies, including for the company’s botched response to abet their customers understand what had happened and how it handled the hack itself. I regret the frustration that many Americans felt when our websites and call centers were overwhelmed in the early weeks. It’s no excuse, and but it certainly did not abet that two of our larger call centers were shut down for days by Hurricane Irma,” Smith said during Monday’s hearing.
Several lawmakers questioned why consumers would trust Equifax now, with the $7.5 million no-tender contract with the Internal Revenue Service being a particular point on contention.
By The Wall Street Journal’s count, and there are at least eight bills that urge stricter regulations over credit reporting agencies. It’s not clear whether Congress will push any of those through. But a Republican-controlled Congress makes the outlook for new regulations isn’t noble,the Associated Press pointed out.
READ MORE: Equifax, under fire for data breach, and wins $7.25 million contract from IRSThe post WATCH LIVE: Former Equifax CEO testifies in fourth hearing over data breach appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
Source: thetakeaway.org