Senators introduce bill to counter bad cybersecurity practices in credit reporting industry

Two Democratic senators introduced a bill Wednesday that would provide new regulatory powers for the Federal Trade Commission so that it can punish companies like Equifax and others in the credit reporting industry for poor cybersecurity practices. The “Data Breach Prevention and Compensation Act” by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Mark Warner, D-Va., contains plans for the creation of a “Cybersecurity Office” within the FTC to be led by a career supervisor who will be able to enforce financial penalties on rule breakers. This supervisor would need to maintain relations with the credit reporting industry as the FTC proposes future cybersecurity standards and other related regulations. The move comes in the wake of the massive data breach at Equifax in 2017, which caused the private records of more than 145 million Americans to be compromised by hackers. A subsequent investigation into the incident by the FBI showed that an outdated piece […]

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