> In 2005, former Equifax Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Richard Smith embarked on an
aggressive growth strategy, leading to the acquisition of multiple companies, information
technology (IT) systems, and data. While the acquisition strategy was successful for Equifax’s
bottom line and stock price, this growth brought increasing complexity to Equifax’s IT systems,
and expanded data security risks.
> Second, Equifax’s aggressive growth strategy and accumulation of data resulted in a
complex IT environment. Equifax ran a number of its most critical IT applications on custombuilt legacy systems. Both the complexity and antiquated nature of Equifax’s IT systems made
IT security especially challenging. Equifax recognized the inherent security risks of operating
legacy IT systems because Equifax had begun a legacy infrastructure modernization effort. This
effort, however, came too late to prevent the breach.
As someone who works in Tech M&A, I often tell clients "hackers go after the weakest link and you just acquired a new link". They nearly unilaterally ignore this advice and ignored hardening even the smallest of acquisitions, because well, "growth". Someday people will learn.
> Second, Equifax’s aggressive growth strategy and accumulation of data resulted in a complex IT environment. Equifax ran a number of its most critical IT applications on custombuilt legacy systems. Both the complexity and antiquated nature of Equifax’s IT systems made IT security especially challenging. Equifax recognized the inherent security risks of operating legacy IT systems because Equifax had begun a legacy infrastructure modernization effort. This effort, however, came too late to prevent the breach.
As someone who works in Tech M&A, I often tell clients "hackers go after the weakest link and you just acquired a new link". They nearly unilaterally ignore this advice and ignored hardening even the smallest of acquisitions, because well, "growth". Someday people will learn.