Equifax CEO and chairman Richard Smith retired this morning in an apparent gesture of atonement for the company's massive data breach. Paulino do Rego Barros Jr. has been appointed interim CEO; Mark Feidler will become non-executive chairman. Equifax continues to receive very harsh reviews for incident response as experts warn all to brace for a breach-enabled cybercrime wave.

Deloitte continues to be tight-lipped about its own breach. Reuters reports that the company says only six customers were affected, the information lost was relatively minor, and the affected customers were informed in a timely fashion. Deloitte's websites and Twitter feeds haven't addressed the breach yet, as far as we can tell. "Engage in proactive messaging to the broader base of stakeholders and the public regarding what is known and not known, and what the organization is doing," figures into Deloitte's own advice on how to handle the strategic and reputational risk of a breach. If the breach really is restricted in scope, perhaps the number of stakeholders are sufficiently limited that quiet and private communication is the appropriate approach; there may indeed be good reason for holding information close. Some observers think it possible the breach may be more widespread and consequential in its effects, but it's still too early to tell.

Germany's Sunday elections returned Chancellor Merkel to office with a different coalition and without much evidence of Russian influence. More information on the influence operations in the 2016 US elections is out, however: division and discord seemed Moscow's goal.