Final answer:
The problems at Equifax were caused by inadequate management of cybersecurity risks, organizational shortcomings in maintaining a security culture, and outdated or insufficient technological protections, resulting in a susceptible environment for data breaches.
Step-by-step explanation:
The problems at Equifax, as with other large-scale data breaches, can generally be attributed to factors within management, organization, and technology domains.
Management factors often involve inadequate risk management strategies and failure to prioritize cybersecurity investments, leading to weak supervision over sensitive data. Organizational factors include the lack of a robust security culture, where employees and processes do not sufficiently ensure the protection of customer information, possibly arising from insufficient training or lack of enforcement of security policies.
Finally, technology factors pertain to outdated security software, vulnerabilities within the IT infrastructure, or failure to implement adequate encryption and other protective measures against cyber threats. These factors collectively create an environment susceptible to breaches that expose personal information, leading to identity theft and other financial crimes causing chaos and costly repercussions for the affected company and individuals.