Equifax Inc. Chief Executive Officer Richard Smith is leaving the credit reporting agency following the widely publicized hack that exposed the personal information of 143 million people.

Paulino do Rego Barros Jr., a seven-year veteran of the company, has been appointed as interim CEO. He most recently headed Equifax’s Asia Pacific business. Board member Mark Feidler is in turn taking over as chairman, a position that was until now held by Smith. Feidler sounded a conciliatory tone in a statement published today, though it’s clear that the breach forced his sudden “retirement.”

“We are working intensely to support consumers and make the necessary changes to minimize the risk that something like this happens again,” said Fiedler, a former AT&T Inc. executive. “Speaking for everyone on the Board, I sincerely apologize.  We have formed a Special Committee of the Board to focus on the issues arising from the incident and to ensure that all appropriate actions are taken.”

Smith may not be the last senior leader whom the board will have to replace. Earlier this month, regulatory filings revealed three executives including Chief Financial Officer John Gamble sold $1.8 million worth of Equifax stock before the breach was made public. The company’s chief information officer and chief information security officer stepped down shortly thereafter. 

Equifax has come under fire for its security practices. The breach was blamed on the company’s failure to patch a known security flaw in an internal deployment of Apache Struts, a popular open-source web framework. Making the situation worse was that it took several months to inform the public of the breach.

But it was Equifax’s actions after the announcement of the attack that provided the icing on the cake. For more than a week, the company directed concerned consumers to a fake help site that was created by a developer to show how easily the real response page could be spoofed.

The lackluster handling of the incident will likely carry major consequences for Equifax. Investors have already filed multiple class-action lawsuits against the company, while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and other authorities are investigating. It’s difficult to say if the final outcome will be as dire as some experts predict, but what’s certain is that the Equifax board can expect a tough time finding a new permanent CEO to replace Smith.

The executive was scheduled to appear at two congressional hearings about the breach. According to CNBC, Smith is expected to cooperate with the inquiry.

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