A key congressional panel held hearings last week on a bill that would clamp down on Internet security breaches by, among other things, requiring credit unions and banks to notify immediately their customers when their personal financial information has been compromised.
Law enforcement officials and financial privacy experts were among the witnesses who testified before the House Financial Services subcommittee on Financial Institutions. The Financial Data Protection Act of 2005, one of several pending bills on online data security, would also create a national security standard that requires businesses to protect any sensitive consumer financial account or identity information they may possess; and have the Treasury, Federal Reserve and Federal Trade Commission develop online security standards which would be administered by NCUA and the other regulators.
CUNA said it supports proposals that would require the major credit card companies to notify their credit unions and banks when a data breach has occurred, and for the credit unions and banks to be able to disclose the source of the breach to the consumer.
Contact Ed Roberts at eroberts
