Equifax Crisis Management 

Equifax is a credit assessment and consumer credit report-generating American multinational company. The credit reporting company experienced a crisis of security breach in 2017 leading to the exposing the personal data of approximately 147 million people. The brand managed to find a way to deal with the situation and crisis. Today, we’ll discuss Equifax crisis management; the data security breach incident; the company’s strategic crisis management and crisis communication response; and lessons to learn from Equifax data security breach. 

Data Security Breach Incident with Equifax

Hackers found a way to breach the web server of the company Equifax and they had access to the credit record and personal data of approximately 140 million British, American, and Canadian customers. By the time the brand detected the problem, the data was already exposed. After diagnosing the scale and scope of the breach, Equifax disclosed the information publicly; it is the world’s leading and biggest data security breach in history. 

Many consumers filed a class-action lawsuit against the company because of jeopardizing their personal data to hackers; Equifax settled the lawsuit for 575 million USD. 

Strategic Approach to Equifax Crisis Management 

Let’s discuss the strategic approach of Equifax crisis management and the crisis communication of Equifax for the data breach incident; they’re as follows; 

Transforming Entire Organization 

Ever since the data security breach incident of Equifax in 2017; the credit reporting company has transformed every aspect and area of its business. It led the brand to have the world’s strongest culture of risk and security management. 

However, it amplified the company’s capabilities of planning and managing the crisis relevant to continuously improving the crisis management. Houston played a critical role in transforming the company, because of its compliance and legal experience in reshaping the company’s strategies. 

Don’t Share Details in Crisis 

Houston said that other businesses and companies could learn from the mistakes of Equifax. The best time for sharing the corporate crisis story is not during the crisis situation. However, Equifax made the mistake of sharing the data breach incident news with the public. It resulted in the form of misunderstanding, confusion, panic, and jeopardizing the company’s reputation. 

Quick and Smart Move

The management of Equifax took a quick and smart decision of allocating 1.5 billion USD for the development of the company’s security development program. The objective was to completely transform and reshape the security and technological infrastructure of the company. 

Collaboration & Training 

The tech, audit, and board of directors of Equifax collectively analyzed and reviewed the technology and security situation and the company’s compliance with the audit report. The board, CEO, and employees should support participation in mandatory security training programs annually. Every employee of the company receives a security report card monthly relevant to their security role in the company. 

Building Resilience

Once you have analyzed the scale and scope of a crisis situation, then it is necessary for the company to invest in building resilience. Winston Churchill said that you shouldn’t let any good crisis go wasted without learning from it,  

Lessons Learned from Equifax Data Security Breach 

Let’s discuss some of the main lessons learned from Equifax crisis management and Equifax data security breach crisis situation; they’re as follows; 

Recognize & Empower Crisis Leader 

When an uncertain situation, disruption, or crisis hits the company; then you should quickly choose the leader to handle the crisis situation; and empower them to make the decisions on the company’s behalf. Companies and businesses just don’t have time to vote for the crisis leader; they should choose the leader immediately. 

Sharing Company’s Store 

If the company hasn’t invested significant resources in building the PR brand image; sharing Equifax’s store during the crisis situation doesn’t make sense. Customers are aware of the company’s role in the financial market and that’s it. 

Security as Responsibility 

The thing that is more significant than financial investment, companies should invest resources in building the right culture for employees and workers. Many experts say that a good culture would help companies to differentiate good security from bad security. In fact, every employee should consider and perceive security as their own personal responsibility. 

News Cycle 

Companies like Equifax want to share accurate news and be transparent about everything, but the reality is that the facts are still circulating and spreading in the news. Therefore, they should decide what to share and what not to. 

Changes at the Top

In order to bring thousands of employees on board about the change program during the crisis situation; companies should launch changes at the top of the organization like Equifax. Employees would easily adopt the changes if they see their bosses are going through training and adopting changes. 

Conclusion: Equifax Crisis Management |Strategic Crisis Management | Equifax Data Security Breach Crisis Event 

After an in-depth study of Equifax crisis management; we have realized that Equifax is the world’s leading credit analysis service-providing company. If you are learning about the crisis management situation of Equifax; then you should keep in mind the abovementioned strategic crisis management steps of Equifax; the security breach incident, and lessons learned from the crisis.