Equifax CIO, chief security officer to exit after hack

Equifax said two of its senior executives are leaving as the credit-reporting company faces mounting public anger for losing data on 143 million Americans in one of the biggest cyberattacks in history.

The firm’s chief information and chief security officers are retiring immediately, the Atlanta-based company said Friday in a statement that didn’t name the individuals. Mark Rohrwasser was named interim CIO and Russ Ayres was appointed interim CSO, reporting to Rohrwasser, according to the statement.

Equifax has faced withering criticism since disclosing September 7 that hackers stole sensitive data — including Social Security numbers, birth dates and other identifying information — for much of the adult US population. Lawmakers have since threatened to boost oversight of the industry, whose knowledge of consumers can, in the wrong hands, be used for identity theft and fraud. The Federal Trade Commission even took the rare step of announcing a probe, citing the “intense public interest and the potential impact.”

David C Webb, who joined the company in January 2010, was previously the firm’s chief information officer, according to Equifax’s annual regulatory filing in February. Susan Mauldin previously served as chief security officer, according to her professional profile on LinkedIn and an Equifax press release from 2015.

Rohrwasser joined the company last year to lead its international information technology operations, while Ayres was a vice president in Equifax’s IT unit.

The company said in the statement that it hired cybersecurity firm Mandiant, owned by FireEye, on August 2 to review the incident and “continues to work closely with the FBI in its investigation.”