Do you remember the Equifax hack earlier this year? Well, it turns out that data hack has spurred a lot of people into action when it comes to offering suggestions and game plans on how to better protect consumers from a similar attack in the future. One such person who has stepped forward is Gov. Cuomo (D) of New York. Earlier this week he actually “ordered additional state oversight of consumer credit monitoring agencies following the breach at Equifax.”
Do you remember the Equifax hack earlier this year? Well, it turns out that data hack has spurred a lot of people into action when it comes to offering suggestions and game plans on how to better protect consumers from a similar attack in the future. One such person who has stepped forward is Gov. Cuomo (D) of New York. Earlier this week he actually “ordered additional state oversight of consumer credit monitoring agencies following the breach at Equifax.”
This isn’t the first time Cuomo has offered suggestions regarding the Equifax hack. Shortly after news broke about the hack, he “directed the Department of State to enact new regulations that would, among other steps, require credit reporting agencies to respond within 10 days to any inquiry made by the state’s Division of Consumer Protection on behalf of consumers.”
So how would Cuomo’s suggestions change how things are done right now? For starters, “reporting agencies would be required to disclose to the state all fees associated with their identity theft protection products.” When discussing the matter, Cuomo said:
“The current status quo of allowing consumers to be penalized for having their data breached is unacceptable, and with the addition of these new protections, this administration will hold agencies accountable and help protect New Yorkers and their financial future.”
For those who don’t know, Equifax announced back in September that its system had been hacked over the summer, compromising the personal information of an estimated 143 million people across the U.S., Canada, and the UK. To put that number into perspective, that’s nearly half the population in the U.S. According to reports from Equifax, “cybercriminals have accessed sensitive information such as names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and the numbers of some driver’s licenses.” To make matters worse, the attack compromised “credit card numbers for about 209,000 U.S. customers…as was personal identifying information on roughly 182,000 U.S. customers involved in credit report disputes.”
Equifax is “one of three nationwide credit-reporting companies that track and rates the financial history of U.S. consumers.” It analyzes consumer’s “data about loans, loan payments and credit cards, as well as information on everything from child support payments, credit limits, missed rent and utility payments, addresses and employer history” to calculate credit scores, among other things.
Understandably, the size and scope of the attack sparked many “calls by state and federal lawmakers to tighten oversight of credit monitoring agencies.”
Sources:
Cuomo announces new regulations to tighten consumer protection after Equifax data breach
Giant Equifax data breach: 143 million people could be affected
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