In an alarming development, CNN and other news outlets have recently reported that a United States Federal Grand Jury has charged four members of the Chinese Military with masterminding the notorious Equifax hack that affected over 150 million Americans back in 2017.
The US Attorney General William Barr said that was a "deliberate and sweeping intrusion into the private information of the American people." Barr took the unusual step of charging members of a foreign military because he said the hack "not only caused significant financial damage to Equifax, but invaded the privacy of many millions of Americans, and imposed substantial costs and burdens on them as they have had to take measures to protect against identity theft." "This data has economic value and these thefts can feed China's development of artificial intelligence tools as well as the creation of intelligence targeting packages," Barr said.
The Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, William Evanina told reporters that the Equifax hack reflects the type of "consistent, persistent and unacceptable" activity from China that poses a significant threat to the US. Evanina added that attacks like the one on Equifax must be viewed as a counterintelligence issue, rather than just a cyber threat. “Equifax has all of your data and Americans should care about that," Evanina said. The data is likely being used by foreign intelligence services for many purposes, including to enhance their country's artificial intelligence capabilities.
Jamil N. Jaffer, Senior Vice President for Strategy, Partnerships & Corporate Development at IronNet Cybersecurity said "Today we saw yet another indictment of the Chinese military for targeting the US private sector, highlighting their long-term effort to undermine US economic competitiveness and our strategic position globally." "This intentional data theft is part of a larger Chinese effort to go after US companies, and it is therefore critical that American and allied companies work with one another -- and across industries -- to collectively defend themselves against this committed threat actor," said Jaffer.
Most of the data in the breached accounts consist of names, social security numbers, and addresses. Even though the hack occurred in the past and the US Justice System has charged 4 Chinese military members, you can still protect yourself from another major data breach and other major cyber security threats.
Next Steps - For additional details and Step-By Step Instructions on how to protect and respond to this Alert, follow the link below.
Comments