美国国家公共电台 NPR Senator To Ex-CEO: Equifax Can't Be Trusted With Americans' Personal Data

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Senators, pretty angry senators, had some tough questions for Equifax yesterday. The heat was really on the CEO who just resigned. As NPR's Chris Arnold reports, Republicans and Democrats² alike are upset about the massive hack³ of Social Security numbers and other sensitive information, one of the worst data breaches⁵ in American history.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE⁶: The hack affected⁷ more than 145 million Americans - that's nearly half the U.S. population - and it happened because the company failed to act on warnings from the Department of Homeland Security to fix a software problem leaving it vulnerable to a breach⁴ for more than two months. That's what allowed the hackers⁸ to break in. Democrat¹ Sherrod Brown told former CEO Richard Smith...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SHERROD BROWN: This simply is not a company that deserves to be trusted with Americans' personal data. Your actions have exposed over half the country's adults to financial harm.

ARNOLD: This catastrophic data breach has lawmakers taking a close look at the entire credit-monitoring industry. Both Republicans and Democrats are calling cybersecurity experts to discuss legislation, and in the hearing, Republicans were landing some verbal blows on Smith, too. Republican John Kennedy of Louisiana raised a series of questions about Equifax's basic business model.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN KENNEDY: You collect my information without my permission. You take it along with everyone else's information and you sell that information to businesses. Is that basically correct?

RICHARD SMITH: That's largely correct.

ARNOLD: Kennedy said he didn't have a problem with businesses making money, but he took issue with an Equifax data-monitoring service which he said basically charges people to make sure the data Equifax collects on them isn't full of mistakes.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KENNEDY: I mean, I don't pay extra in a restaurant to prevent the waiter from spitting in my food.

ARNOLD: Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren zeroed-in on another way that Equifax makes money.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ELIZABETH WARREN: In August, just a couple of weeks before you disclosed this massive hack, you said - and I want to quote you here - "fraud is a huge opportunity for us. It is a massive, growing business for us."

ARNOLD: In fact just a few days ago, the IRS agreed to pay Equifax for fraud prevention services. That struck Senator Kennedy as a little odd.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KENNEDY: You realize to many Americans right now, that looks like we're giving Lindsay Lohan the keys to the mini bar.

SMITH: I understand your point.

ARNOLD: Elizabeth Warren said the incentives⁹ in the industry are out of whack¹⁰. Equifax makes money selling credit-monitoring and fraud prevention services. It works through other businesses to do that, too, and has contracts with the government, and this massive hack means there'll be more demand for fraud prevention. So, she said, it's no wonder that the company didn't guard people's data more closely.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WARREN: Look, you've got three different ways that Equifax is making money, millions of dollars, off its own screw-up.

ARNOLD: Equifax is offering free credit-monitoring for one year, but then people will have to pay to keep that service. Warren did some math and said that if just a small fraction of the people who already signed up for the free service stick with it and pay for just one year...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WARREN: That's more than $200 million in revenue for Equifax because of this breach.

ARNOLD: Then there's the issue of Equifax executives who sold the company's stock before the hack was made public. Montana Democrat Jon Tester.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JON TESTER: You had a hack. You told the F - the FBI about the breach. On that same day, high-level execs sell $2 million worth of stock.

ARNOLD: That didn't seem to be passing Tester's sniff¹¹ test.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TESTER: This really stinks¹². I mean, it really smells really bad.

ARNOLD: For his part, Smith defended the executives, saying to the best of his knowledge they did not know about the breach when they sold the stock.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SMITH: These are honorable men who followed the protocol¹³ that was outlined by the organization.

ARNOLD: Lawmakers also raised questions about how much money Richard Smith stands to get as he retires. Democrat Brian Schatz.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BRIAN SCHATZ: You leave with your base salary, unvested options and a pension roughly valued at $90 million. Do you think that's fair?

ARNOLD: Smith first said he wasn't sure that was the right amount, but then responded...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SMITH: I've been fortunate. I've worked hard. And I don't set those compensation levels. The board does. The board's elected every year.

ARNOLD: It's unclear whether the board will move to reduce or claw back any of Smith's compensation. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

4 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

5 breaches   

破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背

参考例句：

• He imposed heavy penalties for breaches of oath or pledges. 他对违反誓言和保证的行为给予严厉的惩罚。
• This renders all breaches of morality before marriage very uncommon. 这样一来，婚前败坏道德的事就少见了。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

9 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

10 whack   

v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• He gave me a whack on the back to wake me up.他为把我弄醒，在我背上猛拍一下。

11 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

12 stinks   

v.散发出恶臭( stink的第三人称单数 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• The whole scheme stinks to high heaven—don't get involved in it. 整件事十分卑鄙龌龊——可别陷了进去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soup stinks of garlic. 这汤有大蒜气味。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。