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ARTICLE · 04 OCTOBER 2018

Equifax Inc 2017 US data breach generates fines for Equifax Ltd in the UK

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These safeguards are equal to the Australian obligation to take all reasonable steps to keep personal information secure.

AustraliaPrivacy
Lyn Nicholson
Lyn Nicholson
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We have written extensively about the Equifax Inc September 2017 Data Breach in the US, its causes, its costs and consequences for Equifax here and here. In the latest update to the ongoing saga, the United Kingdom Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued a monetary penalty of £500,000 on 20 September 2018 to Equifax Ltd, the UK based arm of the Equifax group. The relevance of the monetary penalty is that they are for breaches of the UK Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) in relation to UK individuals and their data (UK Data) arising from the US breach.

The US breach involved a number of data sets relating to UK residents had been maintained by Equifax Inc. The retention of those data sets in the US was found to be in breach of the DPA. In particular, in relation to its identify verification product (EIV), Equifax moved the UK EIV database to the UK in 2006. However, a copy of that data set was retained in the US and the ICO considered that the process for

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