Vulnerability Management Failure at Equifax| Case Study Podcast

The 2017 Equifax data breach was a catastrophic failure of vulnerability management that exposed the personal data of nearly 150 million people, including Social Security numbers. The incident was not due to a sophisticated attack but a failure to apply a known software patch to a critical vulnerability in the Apache Struts web application framework. Attackers exploited this unpatched flaw for 76 days. The case underscores a systemic and cultural breakdown in Equifax’s security fundamentals, demonstrating the devastating consequences of ignoring basic cybersecurity hygiene and leaving critical systems unprotected.