Fallout from the Equifax data protection breach lingers on as executive charged for selling shares prior to breach disclosure

If Equifax thought that news coverage of their huge data protection breach from last year was going away, they’re wrong.

We’re acting for a number of victims in the Equifax data breach after their servers were hacked into because they failed to update a known security soft spot, and detect the ongoing vulnerability. As a result of their clear failure to keep their systems updated, we consider there is a case for compensation.

Now, news of an Equifax executive being charged with “insider trading” has further fuelled the anger against the credit-monitoring giant whose servers were hacked last year.

Equifax has already been criticised for what some have deemed as a slow response to the data protection breach last year, and for being reportedly slow to inform the victims. The number of victims in the UK has almost doubled since the first estimations, so it’s been nothing but bad news for Equifax since the breach was discovered last year.

Now, Equifax have hit the news again after a former executive has been charged for “insider trading” when he sold $1m worth of shares before news of the breach hit the press. In essentially knowing that share values would likely take a hit as a result of the breach being publicised, he knowingly sold shares before the values would be affected in what is seen as a flagrant abuse of the law.

This is no accident; this is an intentional effort to save money through deceptive trading, and given that share values plummeted by a reported 18% after the breach, you can see the impact his actions had. The case further alleges that Jun Ying and other executives were specifically forewarned about the breach before it was publicised. An email allegedly sent on 25^th August stated that there was a “VERY large breach opportunity”, which is enough information for “insider trading” to occur.

It’s thought that the disgraced former executive sold almost 7,000 shares and potentially saved himself around £117,000.00 prior to the breach being publicised and the Equifax share value fell by 18%.

Are you affected by the Equifax cyber-hack?

If you’re a resident in England or Wales and you have been informed that your information was compromised in the Equifax data protection  breach, you may be able to join our claiming group.

Please don’t hesitate to contact the team on 0800 634 75 75 for help and advice today.

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