NCL statement on bank data breach – National Consumers League
August 29, 2014
Contact: Ben Klein, National Consumers League, benk@nclnet.org, (202) 835-3323
Washington, DC-The National Consumers League reacted to the recent news that hackers infiltrated the security systems of the nation’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, as well as four additional smaller banks by reiterating the need for major legislative reforms to protect consumer information. This call to action is the mission of NCL’s latest campaign — the #DataInsecurity Project — to raise awareness about the impact of data breaches on consumer confidence in the marketplace.
NCL’s Executive Director, Sally Greenberg, stated “Like the rest of the public, we are just learning that yet another major American institution, this time one of the nation’s largest banks, has reportedly fallen victim to a sophisticated hacking scheme. This underscores the need for comprehensive federal legislation ondata security that includes a) breach notification to consumers whose accounts have been potentially compromised; b) requirements that companies use state of the art data security technologies, c)empowers federal enforcement agencies like the FTC,” NCL is calling for a national consensus to act and we need to agree on a roadmap to getting there. This involves consumers, business, government and law enforcement sitting down and committing to a process.
NCL has hosted meetings in Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago this summer and hopes to hold a similar meeting in Minneapolis to examine the impact of data breaches on consumers and what steps can be taken to address this massive and growing problem. “Consumers are asked to hand over more and more private financial and personal data to big institutions like banks, retail establishments and government.Consumers must be confident that their data receives the best possible protections to ensure that thisinformation is not getting into the wrong hands,” Greenberg said. NCL is calling on Congress, federal agencies, state attorneys general and other regulatory and law enforcement bodies to develop and adopt robust policies to protect the public’s information
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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
