Another Staffer at Mega-Hacked Equifax Slapped with Insider Trading Rap
Credit agency promises eight US states it will boost cyber security measures, escapes fine
A former Equifax software engineering manager was today charged with insider trading – and has promised to pay back his alleged ill-gotten gains.
Meanwhile, eight US states decided to let the biz off with just a slapped wrist instead of a fine after it was thoroughly hacked last year.
The credit agency's computer security fiasco, during which the personal data of 148 million people was exposed to miscreants, was discovered at the end of July 2017, yet the agency kept quiet about it until September that year.
As the scandal hit the headlines, a number of reports emerged that some execs at Equifax had made good use of the three-month quiet period, allegedly offloading their shares in the biz – something the US Securities and Exchange Commission has been looking into.
The SEC announced today that a second employee has been charged with insider trading, the first being against Jun Ying, former chief information office in Equifax's US business unit.
According to the watchdog, software engineering manager Sudhakar Reddy Bonthu “traded on confidential information he received while creating a website for consumers impacted by a data breach.”
The SEC alleged Bonthu – although told the website work he was doing was for an unnamed potential client – figured out it was for Equifax itself.
Armed with that information, the SEC claimed, 44-year-old Bonthu purchased Equifax put options, which allow the holder to sell a specified amount of a security at a specified price within a specified time frame.
“Less than a week later, after Equifax publicly announced the data breach and its stock declined nearly 14 percent, Bonthu sold the put options and netted more than $75,000, a return of more than 3,500 percent on his initial investment,” the SEC claimed.
The engineering manager "was terminated from Equifax in March after refusing to cooperate with an internal investigation into whether he had violated the company’s insider trading policy," the watchdog added.
Bonthu has, we're told, already settled the SEC's charge, and agreed to pay back that money plus interest. The regulator said:
However, this is not the end of the saga for the Bonthu: the techie now faces criminal charges [PDF] of insider trading, brought today by the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Not a fine day for Equifax
Meanwhile, eight US states’ banking departments have opted to make a deal with the credit reporting biz – and stops short of imposing a fine on the firm.
In a statement, the New York Department of Financial Services superintendent Maria Vullo said that Equifax had agreed to a consent order.
“The consent order announced today between Equifax and the commissioners of eight state banking departments demonstrates the necessity of continued state oversight of financial services companies,” Vullo said.
This order requires it to make corrective actions including a proper risk assessment and improving the board’s oversight of information security information, audit, patch management, information technology operations, vendor management, and other functions.
In the UK, investigations led by the Information Commissioner's Office and Financial Conduct Authority are ongoing.
Source: theregister
Latest Jobs
-
- Security Analyst. Financial Services. UK. Permanent
- Unknown
- N/A
-
CH7863 Security Analyst. End User . Financial Services Security Analyst needed to monitor and manage a security suite of tools within an End User environment. The Security Analyst will be responsible monitoring, configuring, fine tuning, incident management and generally improving the security tool capability. Specific experience with CyberArk, Tripwire Log Center and Tripwire Enterprise is highly desirable). Current experience with Vulnerability management and penetration testing is highly desirable. Specifically the ability to effectively manage 3rd party pen tests. You will be working within a specialist security team reporting to the CISO. Experience working within an end user environment within financial services is highly desirable. Flexible location. This is an exclusive role to DCL Search & Selection. To book a call please use my Calendy link https://calendly.com/chris-holt/arranged-call-with-chris-holt-soc-role-
-
- DevSecOps - Security design / review consultant. SC Clearance. London
- London
- N/A
-
CH7858 London £70,000 DevSecOps - Security design / review consultant. DevSecOps - Security design / review consultant will ensure that newly created, public facing apps are secure by design and by default by aligning them to current / best practice security policies and standards into the design phases. The individual must have a technical software / application development background with specalist experinece in secure architecture design. (Frameworks, processes, best practice etc) Practical experience translating and ensuring that the OWASP top 10, ISO27001, HMG frameworks requirements are reviewed and embedded into project designs which are implemented is essential. Experience working projects through a full development lifecycle is key. You will work along side the design and project teams to idenitfy and mitigate risks throughout the design phases. This is a permanent role. SC clearance is essential as is the ability to get to the London office. (When appropiate #covid) Security DevSecOps consultant. To arrange a discreet call book via https://calendly.com/chris-holt/devsecopp--security-design-review-consultant
-
- CONTRACTOR Cyber Vulnerability Analyst, NESSUS, Rapid 7, SC clearance required.
- London
- N/A
-
Cyber Vulnerability analyst NESSUS, Rapid 7, needed for IMMEDIATE 3 month contract MUST have / be able to achieve UK SC clearance role to work within a live environment within a public sector department. The individual must have experience in using various security methods and tools such as Rapid7 and NESSUS scan for / identify vulnerabilities, prioritise them according to risk and raise appropriate tickets for remediation / follow up. In depth experience utilising Nessus highly beneficial. Current cyber public sector experience highly desirable.
-
- Internal Security Auditor, Level 1 Service Provider (ISO27001)
- London
- Upto 55,000 plus benefits
-
Internal Security Auditor ISO 27001, PCI, needed to join a Cyber team within this expanding Fintech business. The Internal Security Auditor will have end to end responsibility for planning, delivering, remediating any findings etc. Experience working within financial services is highly desirable. This Is a great time to join a newly formed and growing Cyber team within a rapidly expanding fintech, that is taking a major share of its market. We are looking for someone with experience, (but not to be limited to) a mix of Information Security standards, frameworks, audit principles, controls / policies and the management and use of the technical tooling etc. ISO 22301, ISO 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework etc An ideal candidate will be working within an end user environment with a cyber consultancy background. Experience taking a company through accreditation is highly desirable Experience managing internal stakeholders, technical teams and external third parties essential Flexible working, but with the ability to get into London. This is an exclusive role to DCL Search & Selection.