DATA4000 - Individual Report And Individual Presentation - Business Assignment Help

Assignment Task

Your Task
Consider below information regarding two case studies. Choose ONE of the two case studies and using the resources listed, together with your own research,

Assessment Description  

Option 1: Equifax 

Background 

Who is Equifax? 

Equifax is a global company who provides data, analytics and technology services. Their main service  involves providing credit ratings, credit reports and credit histories for loan applications. The main users of  this service are banks, mortgage brokers and finance providers. Equifax provides credit reports by using  the name, address, phone number, social security number and forms of identification such as a driver  licence or passport. They therefore hold a database of all the individuals who have been input in the Equifax system.

History 

Equifax started out in Australia as a mutual organization named Credit Reference Association. After being  renamed to Veda Advantage in 2006, they became the first company in Australia to provide  comprehensive reports of car histories. Veda Advantage was eventually purchased by Equifax  (NYSE:EFX) in 2016 to become the leader in credit reports in Australia. 

When an individual applies for any sort of financing, especially with banks, a thorough check is made on  the client in order to assess the credit worthiness of the individual. This is to decrease the asymmetric  information issue which arises in principal agent relationships. Equifax being the leader in credit reports in  Australia and having a presence in 21 countries, the company has amassed a vast database of individuals  and their financial information. 

In September 2017, Equifax announced a breach in their system in which 147 million customers were  affected. This large scale breach is believed to be one of the most substantial in history. The hackers were  able to retrieve credit card numbers, social security numbers, identification numbers and more. During the  case investigation, it was found that Equifax were made aware of the possibility of a breach six months  prior but did not act to safeguard their data adequately. As a result, the company has had to pay $700  million to settle federal and state suits.

Issues with sharing and integration of personal credit and personal financial data 

1. Security 

Hackers were able to access the company’s servers using a known vulnerability in the Equifax  system. The servers were not properly segmented, hence the hackers were able to access  unencrypted data from the customer complaint portal. Although this fault should have been  rectified long before the breach, no actions were taken due to a defective internal system within  the company. The company also did not announce the breach straight away. Firstly, it took  Equifax 76 days to realise that hackers had entered their system. Moreover, it took the company  more than a month after they were aware of the breach to disclose it to the public, giving the  hackers ample time to mine a significant amount of data but also to sell it on the dark web if  they wanted to.

2. Privacy 

As a remedy to the breach, Equifax created a secondary domain called  equifaxsecurity2017.com. This move was greatly criticized as the domain name resembles a  phishing scam domain. It was said that customers would have trouble trusting the new website,  especially since their personal information and identity had just been compromised. 

Option 2: Facebook 

Background 

What is Facebook? 

Facebook is an American social media platform which originated from the dorms of Harvard College. Mark  Zuckerberg, along with four fellow students founded the platform and expanded the service continuously  until 2006, where any individual over the age of 13 years were allowed to join Facebook. 

History 

Facebook has worked its way through the masses to become the leading social networking service  provider, by acquiring giants such as Instagram in 2012 and Whatsapp in 2014. With the four most  downloaded apps under their belt, the company holds extremely valuable data, which it uses to provide  analytics solutions to companies and marketers.

In April 2020, Facebook announced another cyber-security breach regarding its database. This breach  resulted in the profiles of 267 million people being sold on the dark web. The profiles included personal  information such as e-mail addresses, names, phone numbers, etc being sold for a mere $623. The  information stolen did not include passwords, but with the use of e-mail addresses and phone numbers,  the individuals whose profiles were compromised are now at risk of falling victim of phishing e-mails and  texts to retrieve passwords and other information.

The above breach is not the first one committed to the Facebook server. In September 2018, the personal  information of nearly 50 million users was stolen from the Facebook network. This breach was the largest  in the company’s history at the time. The hackers used a vulnerability in the code of the social platform in  order to gain control of the data. This has come at an opportune time for Facebook, as they were already  under review for allegedly giving access to the data of 87 million users to a British analytics firm. 

Issues with handling of personal data on and by social network platforms

1. Acquisition 

Facebook was found to have logged data from its users’ phones and collected their phone calls  and SMS texts without having clearly informed the users. This goes against Facebook’s earlier  claim that they only acquired the data for those user who have “opted-in” to having their data  collected.

2. Data Harvesting 

In 2018, it was found that the data stored for around 50 million profiles had been harvested by  Cambridge Analytica, a firm working with Donald Trump’s election team. The British analytics  company used the data to target users in the now POTUS’s electoral campaign. This scandal  arose after Facebook executives claimed that the company had stopped giving access to their  data to third-party app developers.

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