Equifax hired a music major as chief security officer and she has just retired

marketwatch ^ | Sept 15, 2017 | Brett Arends

[MarvinStinson]

Susan Mauldin, whose identity is being scrubbed from the internet, studied music composition

When Congress hauls in Equifax CEO Richard Smith to grill him, it can start by asking why he put someone with degrees in music in charge of the company’s data security.

They might also ask him if anyone at the company has been involved in efforts to cover up Susan Mauldin’s lack of educational qualifications since the data breach became public.

And late Friday Equifax said both Mauldin and the company’s chief information officer have retired effective immediately.

Susan Mauldin’s LinkedIn page was made private and her last name replaced with “M.”

Equifax “Chief Security Officer” Susan Mauldin has a bachelor’s degree and a master of fine arts degree in music composition from the University of Georgia. Her LinkedIn professional profile lists no education related to technology or security.

This is the person who was in charge of keeping your personal and financial data safe — and whose apparent failings have put 143 million of us at risk from identity theft and fraud. It was revealed this week that the massive data breach came due to a software vulnerability that was known about, and should have been patched, months earlier.

Two videos of interviews with Mauldin have been removed from YouTube. A podcast of an interview has also been taken down.

A transcript of one interview has survived

In an interview I found, Mauldin said that in recruiting, “[w]e’re looking for good analysts, whether it’s a data scientist, security analyst, network analyst, IT analyst, or even someone with an auditing degree. ... Security can be learned.”

But she also said she focuses college recruitment, understandably, on “universities that have programs in security, cyber security, or IT programs with security specialties.” She did not mention music composition.

[Mears]

“My father would do the software, I’d do the hardware, and she’d be the referee!”

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Smart step mother also. :-)

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[SteveH]

i was in a worship team for a decade until there was some politics. in my experience, hymns and worship music tend to be straightforward from a composition standpoint. in my opinion, any musician should be able to play (or sing) a given hymn or worship song after listening to it a few times. i know that there exist some musicians who claim otherwise. hymns and worship songs also typically have sheet music available and so there are typically two paths to a solution. either path should work. if one path is blocked to a musician, then the other path should work.

aside: i am running into some site censorship issues on another post, so please excuse me if i am not able to respond after this. if i disappear entirely, well... it has been a fun ride, and thanks to everyone for tolerating me.

[poinq]

Wow, Jazz is the Tourette’s Syndrome of music. Really interesting. I have three daughters who have been playing classical violin since they were 3 or 4. They are normally in the first chairs of the their college orchestras and have participated in highly selective music programs at Berklee School of Music (nothing to do with UC Berkley), Northwestern, and NYU. But as wonderful as their sight reading and the beauty of their sound, they really can’t improvise at all.

Its interesting that many legendary artist like Michael Jackson or Johnny Cash could never read music while both wrote songs. In fact nobody in the Carter family could read music, the first family of American folk music. Even Louis Armstrong could not read music. But their unbelievable gift for playing along with and enhancing music while its being played is amazing. And virtually unable to be taught.

But back to the real topic, besides for music. Clearly this lady had all the tools she needed to order a patch to be installed. And that did not happen. Was it malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance by her or someone else is the real question, not whether she had the educational background to order someone to install a security patch.

[dfwgator]

They are normally in the first chairs of the their college orchestras and have participated in highly selective music programs at Berklee School of Music (nothing to do with UC Berkley), Northwestern, and NYU. But as wonderful as their sight reading and the beauty of their sound, they really can’t improvise at all.

Pat Metheny taught at Berklee when he was 19.

[ELS]

Thanks for your reply. Certainly food for thought.