Equifax appoints new CISO

Beleaguered US-based credit reporting agency Equifax has appointed Jamil Farshchi as its new CISO, to help with the mammoth task of transforming the company’s information security processes and restoring public trust following last year’s massive data breach.

Farshchi is the former CISO of US housewares retail company The Home Depot, a position he held for nearly three years.

Prior to joining Home Depot, he was the first global CISO of media giant Time Warner. He has also served as VP of global information security at Visa and as deputy chief information assurance officer at NASA.

Equifax interim CEO Paulino do Rego Barros, who assumed the role after former CEO Richard Smith fell on his sword in the wake of the data breach, said Farshchi is well suited to the task of reshaping the company’s cybersecurity strategy.

“Jamil has a reputation for helping enterprises rebuild and fortify information security programs,” he said.

Fashchi’s appointment to Home Depot came in the wake of a malware attack in 2015 that led to more than 56 million credit and debit card details being stolen from US and Canadian shoppers.

“His expertise in risk intelligence and cybersecurity, combined with his intimate knowledge of industry best practices, will allow us to design and deploy a best-in-class, global security strategy to re-establish ourselves as a trusted leader.”

Restoring faith in Equifax’s security practices will be an uphill battle after last year’s headline-grabbing data breach, which involved the theft of personal information about around half of the population of the US.

Criminals exploited a website vulnerability to gain access to databases of information including names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses and driver’s licence numbers. The breach also exposed the credit card numbers of around 209,000 US consumers.

Image: LinkedIn

Follow us and share on Twitter and Facebook