CUNA, trades call for legislation with strong merchant security requirements

Major merchant data breaches continue to put millions of consumers at risk, CUNA and other financial trade organizations wrote in a joint letter Tuesday. The joint letter was sent to Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, and follows up a letter CUNA wrote last week on the same topic.

“Data breaches impose significant costs on financial institutions of all sizes because our first priority is to protect consumers and ensure that they have no liability for fraud that typically follows a breach.  Our members provide relief to victims of breaches, regardless of where the breach occurs,” the letter reads. “In our view, it is critical for your committee and the [House] Financial Services Committee to collaboratively move forward on legislation that puts in place strong national data security and breach notification requirements and eliminates the current inconsistent patchwork of state law.”

The letter highlights principles the trades believe should be part of any data breach bill:

• A flexible, scalable standard equivalent to what is in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) for data protection that factors in the size and complexity of an organization, the cost of available tools to secure data and the sensitivity of the personal information an organization holds. It should also guarantee that small organizations are not burdened by excessive requirements;

 

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