Summary of Equifax: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

00:00:00 - 00:15:00

John Oliver discusses the Equifax data breach, which has affected 143 million Americans. He points out that the company's explanation for the delay in investigating the breach doesn't hold water, and that they have failed to properly fix a critical vulnerability in their software. Oliver suggests that Equifax make up a memorable phone number to help people remember the incident.

• 00:00:00 In this episode of "Last Week Tonight," John Oliver reviews the Equifax data breach, which affected 143 million Americans. While the company initially claimed that they needed six weeks to investigate the breach, it has been revealed that three of Equifax's executives sold stock just days after the breach was discovered. Additionally, Oliver points out that the company's explanation of the delay doesn't hold water, as they would have had to have been willfully ignorant of the breach in order to make the argument.
• 00:05:00 In a recent hearing, lawmakers learned that Equifax failed to properly fix a critical vulnerability in their software that was reported to them back in March, and that one person forgot to tell somebody about the vulnerability. Additionally, Equifax sent hundreds of different credit reports to the same address, and when people tried to sign up for Equifax's year of free credit monitoring, they noted that they were locked into the company's terms of service which would have prevented them from suing the company.
• 00:10:00 According to filings with the SCC, LifeLock purchases credit monitoring services from Equifax. This means that LifeLock passes some of its revenue directly along to Equifax. Todd Davis, the then-CEO of LifeLock, put his real social security number on a truck and billboards and had his identity stolen 13 times. Consumer advocates tell people to go through all three credit reporting companies and freeze their credit. The IRS deal that was suspended has been cancelled, but unfreezing credit can still cost money.
• 00:15:00 John Oliver ridicules Equifax for its recent data breach, which has resulted in the exposure of the personal information of millions of Americans. He suggests that Equifax make up a memorable phone number to help people remember the incident.