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Heads roll at Equifax: Chief information officer, chief security officer “retire” immediately

Credit reporting agency execs depart in wake of massive security breach

Heads have officially started rolling at Equifax.

Last week, the credit reporting agency revealed a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of 143 million U.S. consumers to hackers.

The company is already facing inquiries from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, the House Financial Services Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and a lawsuit from the state of Massachusetts over the breach.

And now, two of the executives charged with the security of Equifax’s credit data are no longer employed by the company.

Equifax announced late Friday that its chief information officer and chief security officer are “retiring” immediately. The release announcing the two executives’ departure doesn’t even list them by name.

A search of the company’s website shows that the company’s now-former chief information officer is Dave Webb, who joined the company in 2010. In this role, Webb was responsible for “leading a global team of IT professionals in delivering the technology strategy as well as support for the company's innovative consumer and business solutions,” according to his bio.

Webb joined Equifax from Silicon Valley Bank, where he was chief operations officer and led the company's IT strategy. Earlier in his career, he served as a vice president at Goldman Sachs, and held technology leadership positions at Bank One and with GE Capital’s auto finance business.

Replacing Webb will be Mark Rohrwasser, who was appointed interim chief information officer. Rohrwasser joined Equifax in 2016, leading Equifax's international IT operations.

Equifax’s now-former chief security officer is Susan Maudlin, whose name made the media rounds on Friday due to her lack of background in security.

According to this piece from MarketWatch, Maudlin has a degree and a master of fine arts degree in music composition from the University of Georgia. Additionally, her LinkedIn page states that she has no education in technology or security.

Replacing Maudlin will be Russ Ayres, who has been appointed interim chief security officer. Ayres most recently served as a vice president in the IT organization at Equifax and will report directly to the Rohrwasser.

The company did not provide any additional details on the nature of Webb’s and Maudlin’s departures, nor any additional information about Ayres or Rohrwasser.

Additionally, the company said that its internal investigation is still ongoing and said that the company “continues to work closely” with the FBI in its investigation.

The company also released additional information about the nature of the data breach and what led to its occurrence.

For more information on that, click here.

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