"We were tricked" says Experian after massive security breach
The business and credit information services agency says it was tricked by a fraudster into handing over sensitive information comprising personal information of some 24 million South Africans and hundreds of thousands of businesses.
It was initially thought that the company had been hacked.
Experian collects and stores credit information linked to people’s bank accounts.
Following the breach, the country’s major banks said that they’re trying to establish how much banking information’s been released and adopting strategies to mitigate further risk.
Cybersecurity expert, John Mc Loughlin says South Africa needs to up its game on the cyber and technology crimes front.
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“Further reports have stated that this information was handed over in May and they (Experian) kept it quiet so they let the legal process play out," said Mc Loughlin.
“In my opinion when it comes to anything that is digital once it’s out there it is gone, can be shared on multiple different platforms and it is extremely difficult to trace exactly where it is."
“We need to assume our data is compromised since it is out there and can be used by utilized (by criminals) at our service providers or by (the hackers/criminals) targeting us directly," he added.
