Equifax hires new chief information security officer

Equifax has hired a new chief information security officer (CISO) following the abrupt retirement of the company’s top security executives following its massive data breach last year.

Jamil Farshchi is joining the embattled credit bureau from Home Depot, where he has served as CISO since 2015.

“Equifax is a company with tremendous potential, and I am confident that we will transform our security program into one of the most advanced and recognized globally,” Farshchi said in a statement. “I am grateful for this new challenge and am looking forward to enabling the business with new insights, a fresh perspective, and a multi-dimensional way of thinking about global data stewardship and information security.”

{mosads}Farshchi was tapped as Home Depot’s first CISO after the company revealed that more than 2,000 of its stores had been breached, exposing credit card information from more than 50 million shoppers.

Prior to that, he served in similar roles at Time Warner and Visa.

Last year, Equifax’s chief information officer and chief security officer both retired after the credit reporting agency revealed the data breach that compromised sensitive information of more than 145 million people.

Equifax interim CEO Paulino do Rego Barros said the hire will help the company “regain trust with consumers and customers.”

“Jamil has a reputation for helping enterprises rebuild and fortify information security programs,” do Rego Barros said in a statement. “His expertise in risk intelligence and cybersecurity combined with his intimate knowledge of industry best practices will allow us to design and deploy a best-in-class, global security strategy to re-establish ourselves as a trusted leader.”