Equifax hires Home Depot's CISO

Embattled credit reporting firm Equifax has hired Home Depot's chief information security officer to lead efforts to overhaul its security posture following a damaging 2017 data breach.

The company today said Jamil Farshchi would join Equifax as its new CISO. He will assume "company-wide leadership of work already underway to transform the company's information security program".

He will also "collaborate with the industry to share best practices on information security".

Equifax had let go its chief security officer and chief information officer in the wake of the September 2017 breach disclosure. Former CEO Richard Smith also resigned later that month.

Farshchi joined US retailer Home Depot in the wake of its own breach in 2014, after it revealed its payment systems had been breached and more than 100 million payment cards and email addresses stolen.

His appointment comes as a US senator revealed hackers stole more data from the company than originally thought.

Equifax had initially said attackers exploited a vulnerability in the Apache Struts 2 web application framework to access to the personal files of 145 million US consumers.

The details accessed included names, social security numbers, and, in some cases, drivers license numbers. Certain credit card numbers and dispute documents were also exposed for hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Late last week a letter published Friday by US senator Elizabeth Warren revealed tax identification numbers (TINs), email addresses, and additional drivers license information were also exposed.