Personally identifiable information

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not impacted by a hacking incident against the accounting giant Deloitte, the companies said Tuesday, after a British newspaper alleged a server containing emails from government agencies was compromised.

Yes, the credit bureau goofed badly on data security, and it proved to be worse at crisis management. But other companies have been just as sloppy with cyber defenses, and business and government leaders should have tackled these problems long before now.

Equifax Inc. said two of its senior executives are leaving as the credit-reporting company faces mounting public anger for losing data on 143 million Americans in one of the biggest cyberattacks in history.

Security professionals have long argued against the use of static identifiers like passwords and Social Security numbers, while consumers have long questioned why a handful of bureaus can claim to be the ultimate judges of their identities.

When breaches occur it is the standard practice for the notification to come directly from the company affected. The difference with Discover's service is that, because it's an opt-in program, its users may already be bracing themselves for bad news.