Richard Smith, CEO, and Chairman of Equifax decided to step down on Tuesday after the massive breach which exposed personal details of 143 million Americans.
Richard Smith,CEO, and Chairman of Equifax decided to step down on Tuesday after the massive breach which exposed personal details of 143 million Americans.Hackers exploited a bug in apache struts web framework which was used to build company’s web applications. The breach happened during mid may and the breach was discovered by the company on July 29. Paulino do Rego Barros was named as the interim CEO who previously was the president of Asia Pacific region and current board member Mark Feidler as was selected to serve as the non-executive chairman. Richard Smith said in a statement that “The cybersecurity incident has affected millions of consumers, and I have been completely dedicated to making this right. At this critical juncture, I believe it is in the best interests of the company to have new leadership to move the company forward”. Smith joined Equifax in 2005 as the CEO and Chairman after working in General Electricals for 22 years. He is scheduled to testify before the Senate banking committee on October 4 and also has to testify in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee which is scheduled for next week. Smith will act as an unpaid advisor and will provide necessary assistance to the company up to 90 days. Earlier the Chief Information Officer and the Chief Security Officer was announced retiring on September 15th. Smith is third Equifax executive officer to retire after the breach. "The Board remains deeply concerned about and totally focused on the cybersecurity incident. We are working intensely to support consumers and make the necessary changes to minimize the risk that something like this happens again," Feidler said in a statement on Tuesday.