U.S. charges Chinese spies with massive Equifax hack

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/10/us-charges-chinese-spies-with-massive-equifax-hack-113129

The Equifax breach, disclosed in September 2017, exposed the sensitive financial records of nearly 150 million Americans and many other foreigners.

By ERIC GELLER

02/10/2020 10:11 AM EST

Federal prosecutors today charged four Chinese intelligence officers with hacking the credit-reporting giant Equifax in one of the largest data breaches in history.

The Equifax breach, disclosed in September 2017, exposed the sensitive financial records of nearly 150 million Americans and many other foreigners. After nearly two years of state and federal lawsuits, the company agreed to pay a settlement of at least $650 million.

Chinese spies have ramped up espionage-focused hacking in recent years. Their targets — including the Office of Personnel Management and the health insurance titan Anthem — reflect Beijing’s desire to amass dossiers on Americans, especially those with security clearances, in the hope of compromising them.

The Justice Department charged two Chinese hackers with the Anthem breach, and U.S. officials have privately blamed China for the devastating OPM intrusion. Intelligence officials have also linked Beijing to other major cyberattacks, including the Marriott hack that exposed the personal data of roughly 500 million people. If the previous cases are any indication, there’s little chance the hackers blamed for the Equifax breach will be apprehended by U.S. officials anytime soon.

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10:10 AM - Feb 10, 2020

If he wanted to catch Chinese secret agents, all he had to do is hang around Merd-e-Loado for a weekend.

[cbdo2007]

1. I'm guessing Trump was looking at porn on the White House computers...

And got one of those ransom viruses.

[Zoonart]

2. My husband works for a small horticultural firm that was

hit by a cyber ramsomware attack last week. They will be down for at least three weeks. A competitor in the field that is a much larger firm was also attacked and was only down for two days....maybe paid?

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Maybe, but if they had a good backup & $$$ to replace their computer infrastructure quickly...

...I can see a 2 day recovery as possible.

[Zoonart]

4. May be... the difference between the firms is

billions, not millions of dollars.