Sep 22, 2017

Chris Hoofnagle Weighs In on the Equifax Data Breach

From NBC News

After Equifax, Why Are Cat Photos Safe But Not Our SSN?

by Ben Popken

Why are your cat pictures on Facebook better protected than your entire personal financial history on Equifax? Or, apparently, private data on the SEC's servers that could have been used for illegal trades?...

"Equifax has the challenge of protecting confidentiality and integrity of records," wrote Chris Hoofnagle, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information and the School of Law. "In confidentiality, it is difficult because it has to provide instantaneous access to a very large, diverse group of report users and to the consumers themselves."

Facebook and other social media platforms don't have the same challenges. Also, the value of a personal cat photo sold on the dark web is a bit lower than a social security number. Were that math to be changed, we might see more attempts on the social media giants. Facebook, Google and Snapchat didn't provide comments in response to emailed inquiries by NBC News

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Last updated:

September 22, 2017