DATA4000 : Introduction to Business Analytics - Integration of Personal Credit and Personal Financial Data  - Business Assignment Help

Assignment Task :

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. Source: https://www.equifax.com/about-equifax/ 

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

Part A: Industry Report 

You are required to choose one of the two options provided to you and evaluate the new scheme with a focus on data usability, security and other ethical considerations 

Your report needs to be structured in line with the Kaplan Business School Report Writing Guide and address the following areas: 

• Data Usability 

? Benefits and costs of the database to its stakeholders. 

? Descriptive, predictive and prescriptive applications of the data available and the data analytics software tools this would require. 

• Data Security and privacy 

? Data security, privacy and accuracy issues associated with the database. 

• Ethical Considerations 

? The ethical considerations behind whether the user has the option to opt in or opt out of having their data stored. 

? Other ethical issues of gathering, maintaining and using the data. 

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