U.S. Attorney General Urges Data Breach Reporting Law

Eric Holder is calling on Congress to create a national fraud and breach alert system to quickly alert consumers if their information was potentially compromised.

March 03, 2014

WASHINGTON – Last week U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder released a video message that calls on Congress to create a national standard for alerting consumers whose information may be compromised by cyber attacks. This legislation would strengthen the Justice Department's ability to combat crime, ensure individual privacy and prevent identity theft while also helping to bring cybercriminals to justice, according to a press release.

“Today, I’m calling on Congress to create a strong, national standard for quickly alerting consumers whose information may be compromised. This would empower the American people to protect themselves if they are at risk of identity theft.  It would enable law enforcement to better investigate these crimes — and hold compromised entities accountable when they fail to keep sensitive information safe.  And it would provide reasonable exemptions for harmless breaches, to avoid placing unnecessary burdens on businesses that do act responsibly.

“This legislation would strengthen the Justice Department’s ability to combat crime and ensure individual privacy — while bringing cybercriminals to justice. My colleagues and I are eager to work with members of Congress to refine and pass this important proposal.  And we will never stop working to protect the American people — using every tool and resource we can bring to bear.”

NACS agrees that consumers and businesses must be protected from the growing and costly problem of data theft.

“While increased investigative tools and criminal penalties along with a uniform consumer notification standard should be included in a data security package, NACS believes policymakers should also include measures to prevent the data theft from occurring in the first place,” said NACS Government Relations Director Paige Anderson. “Deterrence, enforcement and notification all go together in combatting cyber crimes and protecting consumers and businesses from these cyber criminals. NACS will continue to work with all stakeholders to find solutions to these problems.”

NACS also sent a letter to members of Congress last week outlining several options that address data security and protect consumers.

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