This week we look at another example of a real-life challenge in the world of crisis management. You can click in the hyerlinks in the reading for more details to assist you with preparing your response.
Equifax and the Data Breach
What Happened
On July 29 2017 Equifax discovered a massive data breach which affected the personal information of up to 143 million Americans, including social security numbers and driver licenses. The company believed that the hack had taken place several weeks earlier, even as early as mid-May.
Equifax waited until September to make a public announcement of the problem.
The data thieves knew where to target. Equifax is one of three nationwide credit-reporting companies that track and rates the financial history of U.S. consumers. The companies are supplied with data about loans, loan payments and credit cards, as well as information on everything from child support payments, credit limits, missed rent and utilities payments, addresses and employer history, which all factor into credit scores.
Subsequent events only made the situation worse:
· The website and consumer telephone lines set up by Equifax so that people could get information and sign up for credit protection were overwhelmed and it took weeks to get them working effectively.
· It was reported that three executives sold nearly $2m in shares after the breach was discovered but before being publicly revealed.
· Equifax subsequently twice upped its estimate of the numbers of consumers impacted – by 2.5 million in October 2017 and by 2.4 million in February 2018.
What We Learned
This is why we build crisis preparedness plans .
A data breach must have been very high on the potential risks that Equifax faced. Given their business, any data loss is serious.
A plan would have had laid out the crisis team, how they should work together, the steps to take, the initial messaging and statements – and the process for escalating the response as it got worse.
Nothing in Equifax’s slow motion and bungled response suggested it had anticipated and planned for such an event.
Instructions: Using the two readings from weeks 1 and 2, and the information in the “crisis preparedness plans” reading (located in the hyperlink above), write a double-space two page paper (size 12 font) to discuss an appropriate preparedness plan for this situation. Share your perspective on KFC’s plan. You can use other sources as well, and be sure to cite your sources using APA formatting.
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