Equifax Canada Suggests that a Good Defense is the Best Offence in Combatting Data Breaches

Equifax Canada (NYSE:EFX) co-sponsored events this week bringing together Canadian regulatory, legal, and privacy experts to discuss the best practices surrounding data breach.

With proposed legislative changes pending in Canada, organizations are now implementing pre-breach policies and controls to prepare for and mitigate the legal and financial ramifications of a data breach.  Guest speakers from Equifax Canada, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and both federal and provincial privacy regulators joined together for an in-depth discussion on the current data compliance landscape and proactive measures organizations should be taking.  The discussions surrounded understanding the ramifications organizations may experience if a data breach were to happen and how to better prepare themselves.

“As malicious attacks and fraud are on the rise, when it comes to protecting organizations from data breaches, the old adage, the best defense is a good offence, applies. Today, companies are expected to take a proactive and planned approach to prepare and protect themselves, and most importantly, their clients from the negative impact a data breach can have on them,” says John Russo, VP Legal and Chief Privacy Officer for Equifax Canada.

Javelin Strategy and Research in its recently released “2013 DATA BREACH FRAUD IMPACT REPORT: Mitigating a Rapidly Emerging Driver of Fraud,” wrote that “a single massive data breach can result in billions of dollars in consumer fraud losses. Data breach victimization has been increasingly correlated with fraud incidence over the past three years, with a walloping 23% of data breach victims in 2012 becoming fraud victims.”

“Incidence preparation before a breach takes place will assist in reducing the time it takes to mobilize an organizations’ breach response team, in-turn helping minimize the impact of data breaches including liability, negative public perception and subsequent revenue loss,” Jean-Pierre Michaud, Partner at BLG LLP, noted.

Equifax’s data breach solutions help organizations be prepared to react quickly to protect their customers and employees, to uphold confidence in their brand and to maintain their bottom line.

Source: Equifax Press Release