The security breach announced by Equifax Inc.
on September 7, 2017, grabbed headlines around the world as Equifax
revealed that personal data of roughly 143 million consumers in the
United States and certain UK and Canadian residents had been
compromised. By exploiting a website application vulnerability,
hackers gained access to certain information such as names, Social
Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and in some instances,
driver's license numbers and credit card numbers. While this
latest breach will force consumers to remain vigilant about
monitoring unauthorized use of personal information and cause
companies to revisit security practices and protocols, had this
event occurred under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
(set to take effect May 25, 2018), the implications would be
significant. This security event should serve as a
sobering wake up call to multinational organizations and any other
organization collecting, processing, storing, or
