Evidence of meeting #81 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was equifax.
A video is available from Parliament.
3:50 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
For six years.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
So that insurance of up to $50,000 is available for six years?
3:50 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
That's for people subscribing to the credit monitoring product, which we're offering to the impacted Canadians. All other Canadians—
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
No, I'm talking about the impact on Canadians, those who are susceptible to damages as a result of Equifax's negligence. I want to make sure that those Canadians are made whole without having to start a class action or individual small claims suits. That's what I want to make sure of, so I hope today you are able to confirm to this committee that Equifax is guaranteeing that those Canadians will be made whole.
3:50 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
Yes, for the 19,000 Canadians impacted by this incident, they are made whole in terms of the premier product we're offering them. It offers them up to $50,000 in identity theft insurance.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
3:50 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
It's over a 12-month period.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
What happens after those 12 months? How are they made whole if identity theft happens after those 12 months?
3:50 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
In terms of the product we're offering, they can continue their subscription to credit monitoring after that.
3:50 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
It's a paid service here in Canada.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
It sounds as though you're not actually guaranteeing that they will be made whole if identity theft happens after 12 months.
3:50 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
The product offers 12 months of credit monitoring and it offers other indicators, such as a lost wallet: if there's information from their wallet that's stolen or lost, we'll monitor that. We'll also give them alerts. Any time anybody accesses their credit file, they'll be alerted to that fact within that 12-month period. The 12-month clock starts ticking when they subscribe to the product. It's not as of the date of the breach or their letter; it's when they subscribe to the product.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Zimmer
Thank you, Mr. Erskine-Smith.
Next up is Mr. Kent, for seven minutes.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Thank you, Chair, and thank you both for attending today.
When we attended the congressional hearings in Washington, there were significant comments and statements that in fact your company, and the sector, is seriously under-regulated. In your opening remarks you mentioned that Equifax Canada continued to keep your regulators informed. Who are your regulators? Whom are you responsible to?
3:55 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
The regulators here in Canada are twofold. We have privacy regulators, such as the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, and provincial commissioners, such as in B.C., Alberta, and Quebec, as well as consumer reporting regulators. We're licensed under the consumer reporting acts in the various provinces that have consumer reporting legislation, so we have two sets of regulators.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Do you understand from the discussion, certainly in the United States and as it's beginning now in Canada, that there may well be a public mood to create more specific and stringent regulations with regard to private information?
3:55 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
Yes. That's why I mentioned in my opening statement that we're proactively taking steps, such as in the U.S., to reveal this lock and unlock feature, giving consumers more access to their credit information and more access to their personal information, being able to control it more than they ever have. That's a free service offered to all Canadians.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Do I understand correctly that Equifax Canada uses the same Apache Struts program and would be required to have applied the same patch?
3:55 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
There are various patches. The global security would cover all of those for the various 24 countries we operate in.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
We heard in Washington that the original breach was recognized by national security agencies who informed Equifax U.S. Did you get the same warning back in March in Canada?
3:55 p.m.
Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, Equifax Canada Co.
Do you mean by Equifax Canada?
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Peter Kent Conservative Thornhill, ON
Yes. Was the alert given to Equifax in the United States from the national security agencies immediately passed on to Equifax Canada?