Equifax boss ousted following data breach

Chief Executive Richard Smith has been ousted following a damaging data breach which exposed highly sensitive information.

Credit reporting agency Equifax has ousted chief executive Richard Smith following a damaging data breach that exposed highly sensitive information about 143 million Americans.

The shake-up announced on Tuesday comes after Equifax disclosed that hackers exploited a software flaw that the company did not fix to take social security numbers, dates of birth and other personal data that provide the keys to identify theft.