Equifax Accused Of Scrubbing That Its Chief Security Officer Was A Music Major

One week after what may be the biggest security leak in US history, when Equifax belatedly admitted that hackers had made off with over 143 million private data profiles, sending the company's stock 37% lower in the past week..

... leading to a massive scandal which will go through at least one round of Congressional hearings in which company CEO Richard Smith will have to explain why the company waited for weeks before making this unprecedented data breach public (a breach which came due to a vulnerability the company was aware of and should have patched months prior) and will likely culminate with prison time for one or more company executives, questions have emerged if Equifax was involved in another cover up, this time involving the background of its Chief Security Officer.

Meet Susan Mauldin, the Equifax Chief Information Security Officer, and the person who was responsible for keeping the highly confidential and secret information of over 100 million Americans well... highly confidential and secret.

. a bachelor’s degree in music composition (magna cum laude) and a Master of Fine Arts degree in music composition (summa cum laude), both from the University of Georgia.

www.zerohedge.com...

Talk about whistling Dixie.............

Buck

Um ... wait, what?

Are they going to try to convince us that her experience was relevant? She may have had lots of experience, but don't they think she should have had at least one or some heavy duty training in the job-relevant areas in order to climb that high?

Holy Cow! Let's hope that somethinf more than the usual blown smoke comes of this.

Equifax Accused Of Scrubbing That Its Chief Security Officer Was A Music Major

Why is that an issue ?
There was once a plumber from New Jersey that went on to challenge Prof. Hawking at his own game of physics.
And won...

She might be singing a different tune real soon !!

a reply to: xuenchen

Those notes are very important but I find the sign of a truly great composer is the use of the spaces in between.

The real stink started when Equifax tried to scrub the information from the net and got caught in the act.
Its not so much the fact that she's a music major, but the extraordinary amount of effort that was made to hide that fact after the breach occurred.

Buck

originally posted by: flatbush71
The real stink started when Equifax tried to scrub the information from the net and got caught in the act.
Its not so much the fact that she's a music major, but the extraordinary amount of effort that was made to hide that fact after the breach occurred.

Buck

They even screwed that up too.

a music major certainly isn't` qualified to be in charge of personal private info it seems that Equifax was extremely negligent in handling our personal private info, where can we "opt out" of allowing them to access any more of our personal private info?

a reply to: flatbush71

I was also going to college to study music.

But I ended up being an IT guy.

Looks like I'm not the only one.

I have a Bachelor and Master of Music. While getting those degrees require FAR FAR more knowledge than how to play an instrument, as many people assume, and not withstanding that credentialed musicians are often highly intelligent....... I am wondering what her skills were that qualified her for this position! Unless of course, she got her MFA and just never worked as a musician again....which is also pretty common.

This doesn't necessarily mean anything. If she had proper certifications, her lack of a degree would be meaningless. You don't need a degree to work in cyber security so long as you have the proper knowledge, skills and certifications.

originally posted by: trollz
This doesn't necessarily mean anything. If she had proper certifications, her lack of a degree would be meaningless. You don't need a degree to work in cyber security so long as you have the proper knowledge, skills and certifications.

Good point.

It does make for a funny headline, though

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: flatbush71

I was also going to college to study music.

But I ended up being an IT guy.

Looks like I'm not the only one.

You're not. My twin brother got his degree in Jazz Studies from the same university where I got my BM....he is now some high-level IT guy for a company headquartered near our alma mater.

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: flatbush71

I was also going to college to study music.

But I ended up being an IT guy.

Looks like I'm not the only one.

So I guess I'm going to hijack this thread and advocate for music majors, because now that I think about it, my mom sent me some article last week that detailed how medical schools like to admit applicants who were music majors.

Sorry Buck! I'm not actually trying to derail the thread. I do think it's very interesting that she was in the position she was in, without holding any IT degrees (right?)....and more interesting, that they tried to cover it up! But the more I think about it, her MFA isn't NECESSARILY a red flag.

Plus I'm not gonna miss the chance to advocate for the arts 😊

originally posted by: trollz
This doesn't necessarily mean anything. If she had proper certifications, her lack of a degree would be meaningless. You don't need a degree to work in cyber security so long as you have the proper knowledge, skills and certifications.

I agree that it doesn't mean she isn't qualified, but what are her qualifications?

Being a music major with that degree isn't a good one. She needs other experience and certifications to qualify. And the fact they tried to sweep it all under the rug indicates there is stench somewhere. It may not be with her, but it is a stench somewhere.

Man, you guys are getting slow.

originally posted by: intrepid

^^^^^^^^

That''s actually a link.

I thought it was funny.

From what I remember all the people that couldn't hack the Sciences of engineering and mathematics (washed out)
opted for fine art degrees simply because these were only classes they could pass.

You may BS these people here on forums who have never went to college, but you know as well as I do, its just a paper tiger.

Buck

IT security, short of AI, is the most complex area of product development that PM's need to plan for. It is not a problem to have someone that is Manga Cum Laude or Summa even run your IT security group, as these people should have the necessary people skills to learn the job on the fly. But clearly, it is suboptimal unless there is a bona fide security CTO level person as part of the CSO's direct reports to manage the technical aspects of security. Otherwise you invite disaster.